Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Flares of vasculitis can still be a problem after hepatitis C-related cryoglobulinemic vasculitis patients are cured of their hepatitis C by direct-acting antivirals, as demonstrated by data from four registries presented at ACR 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Annals of Internal Medicine reports that age-adjusted mortality rates for antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody–associated vasculitides (AAV) have improved over time - with a decline of nearly 2 percent per year in the United States from 1999 to 2017. Nevertheless, long-term outcomes continue to lag behind mortality rates of the general population.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Rituxan (rituximab) for the treatment of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) in children 2 years of age and older in combination with glucocorticoids.

This is the first approved treatment for children with vasculitis.

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

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

Th European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) recommendations for the management of large vessel vasculitis (LVV) was originally published in 2009. Since then there have been new randomised clinical trials and cohort analyses leading to an update the original recommendations.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports, and FDA releases and deliberations covered this past week on RheumNow.com

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved apremilast (Otezla) for the treatment of oral ulcers associated with Behçet’s Disease, a rare chronic multisystem inflammatory disease that affects about 5 in 100,000 persons in the USA.

Dr. Jack Cush reports the news and new journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com.

Editor's note: July 1 - 5, RheumNow is running the best of the EULAR 2019 meeting. Dr. Jack Cush reports from Madrid on several novel presentations from EULAR 2019, including low-dose steroids in hand OA, ABA vs. ADA in double positive RA patients, psoriasis predictors of PsA, tildrakizumab and more.

A large study of UK family practice patients shows that polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) or giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients treated with glucocorticoids are at an increased risk of bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal infection, even at daily doses of less than 5 mg prednisolone.

Dr. Jack Cush reports from Madrid on several novel presentations from EULAR 2019.

1. Genovese Vagal nerve stimulator in RA

The risk of serious infectious events (SIE) with rituximab (RTX) is similar to that seen in other biologics (e.g., RA: 2% or 4.3/100PY), but with prolonged use the risk may change. Recent research says that low IgG levels, RTX induced neutropenia, prior SIE and comorbidities can significantly augment this risk.

A retrospective longitudinal single center study of 700 rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) treated monitored serum immunoglobulins (at baseline and 4–6 months after each cycle), clinical outcomes and SIE over time.

Dr. Jack Cush Reviews the news and journal articles from the past week on RheumNow.com

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

A national database reveals that patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) have 22.3% risk of hospital readmissions within 30 days of discharge. 

From a total of 9749 hospital admissions with GPA, there were 2173 readmissions within 30 days of discharge.

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

A small prospective study has shown that ustekinumab is safe and effective in Behçet's disease (BD) with recurrent oral ulcers (OU).

Prior to the introduction of tocilizumab to manage giant cell arteritis (GCA), glucocorticoids (GC) have been the mainstay of therapy, but has been limited by relapses in disease.