Pilot Data on Rituximab in Henoch-Schonlein Purpura

Save

Management of Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) can be challenging as supportive care and avoidance of corticosteroids are often insufficient options. A new series of case reports and literature review of steroid refractory HSP suggests that rituximab may be effective in reducing hospital admissions, overall steroid use, and is capable of inducing remission.

Excess Mortality in CTD or Systemic Vasculitis Patients

Save

The Norwegian connective tissue disease (CTD) and systemic vasculitis (PSV) registry (NOSVAR) studied patient outcomes over a 15 year period and found overall mortality to be higher in the CTD compared to the PSV group.

What Works in Undifferentiated Arthritis Patients

Save

The RheumNow Week in Review – We’re Number One! (8.17.18)

Save

Dr. Cush reviews the articles and news from the last week on RheumNow.com. Information on comorbidities, the downside of steroids, unmet need in psoriatic arthritis, and the top 10 rheumatology programs.

The RheumNow Week in Review – No Good Gout (8.10.18)

Save

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and latest journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com. Info on Surgery and Hip Fractures, Gout drugs abandoned, Allopurinol escalation, hydroxychloroquine drug levels, how to treat scleroderma in India and exactly who gets back pain.

Opioid Aversion is Augmenting Spinal Steroid Injections

Save

As physicians turn away from opioids, are they resorting to options that may also be unsafe?

The New York Times reports that some physicians are using the anti-inflammatory drug, Depo-Medrol, for intraspinal injections to manage painful spinal and perispinal disorders.

Latin American Clinical Practice Guidelines for Lupus

Save

The Annals of Rheumatic Disease have published the recently developed Latin American clinical practice guidelines for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) addressing the best pharmacologic interventions for musculoskeletal, mucocutaneous, kidney, cardiac, pulmonary, neuropsychiatric, hemat

Steroids vs. NSAIDs in Treating Acute Gout

Save

Gout, the ancient disease of kings is usually treated with the ancient (and costly) drug colchicine, often without consideration of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID) or corticosteroids.

Best of 2017: New EULAR Guidelines on Behçet's

Save

At the EULAR 2016 meeting, new EULAR recommendations for the management of Behçet's disease (BD) were presented.

EULAR 2018 - Day 4 Report

Save

The EULAR 2018 wound down on Saturday with fewer oral presentations but many posters.  In my last report I put together a collection of impressions and some thematic highlights not covered in previous reports.

Cancer Therapies Inducing Immune-Related Adverse Events (irAEs)

Save

Recent shifts in the cancer treatment paradigm towards immune therapies has led to wide implementation of the novel immune check point inhibitors (ICI) in the treatment of multiple types of advanced cancer.

JAK Inhibition in Autoinflammatory Syndromes Interferonopathies

Save

While many autoinflammatory syndromes are driven and managed with select inhibition of IL-1, IL-18 or IL-6, a subset are driven by type I interferon and are referred to as interferonopathies. These monogenic IFN–mediated disorders present in infancy with fevers, systemic inflammation, an IFN response gene signature, inflammatory organ damage, and high mortality.

Risk of Psoriasis Complicating TNF Inhibitor Therapy

Save

A population-based study of claims data from Korea shows that among inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients receiving tumour necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) there is a 3.7 per 100 patient-year risk of paradoxically developing psoriasis - a rate that is roughly 3-fold higher than risk in TNFi-naive IBD patients.

The RheumNow Week in Review – Good News for GPA, CZP, Tofa but not ERA (6.1.18)

Save

Dr. Jack Cush reviews this weeks reports from RheumNow.com, including the risk of autoimmunity with vaccination, early RA outcomes, new FDA approvals for certolizumab and tofacitinib and the risk of death from infection with biologics.

MPO Antibodies Predict Relapses in MPO-ANCA-Associated Vasculitis

Save

A study of MPO-ANCA positive patients followed serially over 2 years shows that reappearance of MPO‐ANCA may predict  relapse in patients with MPO‐ANCA positive AAV and that routine MPO‐ANCA monitoring is warranted. 

FDA Approves Denosumab for Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteoporosis

Save

Amgen announced that the U.S.

The RheumNow Week in Review - Nonadherence and Astronomic Costs (5.11.18)

Save

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights, news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Severity of Lupus Nephritis is Declining over Time

Save

A retrospective follow-up study of 499 lupus nephritis (LN) patients over three successive eras shows that LN has become less severe in recent years and thus, better long-term survival is possible.

Mortality Risks Shift in Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis

Save

Mortality remains high in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), but the causes of death tend to change over time, a researcher reported here.

Fixed and Tailored Rituximab Regimens Equal in ANCA Associated Vasculitis

Save

The French Vasculitis Study Group has published the results of the MAINRITSAN2 trial designed to  compare individually tailored versus fixed-schedule rituximab (RTX) reinfusion for remission maintenance in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasm antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitides (AAVs).