Musculoskeletal ultrasound (US) was recently used in a longitudinal study Achilles enthesis of 146 patients with early spondyloarthritis (SpA). Usual measures of SpA activity included BASFI, BASRI-spine, BASDAI and Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS).

Wang and coworkers from the Rochester Epidemiology Project presented their findings at the annual Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network.(SPARTAN) in Denver, CO.

JAMA reports that investigators from the University of Wisconsin in Madison studied the impact of vitamin D supplements on 230 women who were at least five years past menopause but no older than 75, and without osteoporo

The anti-citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP or ACPA) antibody assay has a specificity of greater than 90% for rheumatoid arthritis and is associated with worse articular outcomes.

A 36 year-old white male butcher has right knee pain for 3 weeks. He noted a similar episode 5 years earlier and admits to a traumatic fall on that knee years ago. He denies fever, redness, warmth, other joints or other past medical problems. He only takes OTC ibuprofen prn. 

A large Swedish cohort study of hypertensive men and women presented at the 25th Scientific Meeting of the European Society of Hypertension, identitied a protective effect on osteoporotic fractures among current users of thiazide diuretic drugs independent of blood pressure level.  This retr

These abstracts and presentations were presented 12 June at the EULAR 2015 annual meeting.

A EULAR task force of 21 rheumatologists and radiologists from 11 countries examined 12 clinical/imaging questions and reviewed the literature to establish consensus on imaging for spondyloarthritis in practice.

The recent inclusion of ultrasound in the classification criteria of various rheumatic diseases, such as polymyalgia rheumatica and gout, implies this imaging technique is not onlyuseful as a valued diagnostic tool for individual cases, but also on a larger scale, it will improve doctors' ability to

Dalbeth and coworkers studied  92 patients with gout and using DECT scanning have shown those with urate deposition on DECT were 8.5-fold more likely to have erosive disease on plain radiographs.