Among children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C), treatment with IVIG and methylprednisolone vs IVIG alone was associated with a more favorable fever course. MIS-C is a rare but serious pediatric condition associated with COVID-19 where different body parts can become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.

The benefits of hydroxychloroquine in lupus are many, but if you were to withdraw HCQ? A recent study of five Canadian cohorts, suggests that certain baseline variables, including age, race, and steroid use,  were predictive of flare in patients with SLE who tapered or discontinued treatment with hydroxychloroquine.

2020 was historic, memorable and game-changing. Under the cloud of COVID-19, there were many significant and memorable advances and setbacks for the rheumatology world. In our accounting of most read articles for 2020, (not surprisingly) 17/20 were COVID-related.

The American College of Rheumatology established a guidelines committee that consisted of both patients, rheumatologists and maternal-fetal health experts. After a a systematic review of the medical literature regarding contraception, assisted reproductive technology, fertility preservation, hormone replacement therapy pregnancy, lactation, and medication use in rheumatic disease patients, they published 12 good practice statements and 131 recommendations for reproductive health care in RMD patients.

Hydroxychloroquine is one of many medications frequently used in rheumatology practice. Its remarkable versatility is attested by its routine use in lupus, in patients with an autoimmune coagulopathy, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as in those with a low-level inflammatory arthropathy.

This podcast features a discussion of autoinflammatory and Still's disease abstracts from virtual ACR 2020. Dr. Jack Cush is joined by a panel of experts including Drs. Olga Petryna, Bella Metha and Michael Ombrello.

With broader awareness about the disease state, early diagnosis and treatment in autoinflammatory syndromes, and its life threatening complication Macrophage Activation Syndrome, remains a huge unmet need.

Here are my highlights from day three, Sunday, of the ACR 2020 Convergence. 

ACR is but a few days away; the question is: how will you tackle this virtual meeting? RheumNow has created several options for learning the way you want to. First is to feed your need. Are you a lupologist? A gout maven? A Spondylitis sleuth? A drug safety wannabe?

Dr Jack Cush overviews the RheumNow commitment, upcoming bonus coverage of ACR20 and the good news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com. Regulatory approvals, update on global rheumatology alliance, smoking and psoriasis, gabapentin let down and defining difficult RA.