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Reconsidering Steroids
There is not a single one of us in rheumatology who hasn’t prescribed steroids, but we really need to reconsider how much and how often we use them.
Read ArticleTNFi and RA-ILD – The Pendulum Swings Again
TNF inhibitors revolutionised the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. While highly effective for the joint manifestations of the disease, a note of caution was sounded regarding the potential for worsening of ILD with these agents. Within this framework, a study by England et al presented at ACR23 was highly relevant.
Read ArticleIgG4 disease- the WInS withdrawal study results
IgG4-related disease describes a group of fibroinflammatory diseases whose features may include autoimmune pancreatitis, swelling of or within an organ system, salivary gland disease, swollen lymph nodes, skin manifestations, and symptoms consistent with allergies or asthma. While remission induction treatment with glucocorticoids has proven effective, the high relapse tendency is an ongoing challenge for clinicians.
Read ArticleWhy are older RA patients getting mistreated?
Most rheumatologists, if asked, would say that every rheumatoid arthritis patient should be started on a DMARD of some sort - if not at diagnosis, then pretty soon after. So I am genuinely shocked that, in a large United States Medicare 20% sample dataset between 2008-17, less than 30% of new RA patients aged 66 years or older have a DMARD initiated.
Read ArticleEarly aggressive treatment in SLE: are we there yet?
Early treatment with DMARDs has revolutionised the outcomes of patients with rheumatic arthritis. However, this concept has not been fully extrapolated to other autoimmune rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus.
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