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Multidisciplinary Recommendations for Rheumatoid Foot Problems
Approximately 90% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have foot problems.
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Improved Survival with Renal Transplant in SLE
The Annals of Internal Medicine has published a cohort study of lupus nephritis patients with end-stage renal disease showing that renal transplantation is associated with improved survival benefit, and a reduction in death from cardiovascular disease and infection.
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Steroid Injection Superior to Splinting in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Lancet has published a comparative effectiveness study examining the the value of night splints (conservative treatment) vs local injection for patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.
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Low Risk of Serious Complications with Meniscectomy
Lancet reports on the safety of over 1 million arthroscopic partial meniscectomies done in the United Kingdom and found a low overall risk in the first 90 days.
They examined Hospital Episode Statistics on 1,088,782 arthroscopic partial meniscectomies (1997-2017); 699 965 of which were eligible for analysis. They sought to identify complications occurring in the 90 days after the index procedure.
Intensive Patient Education Does Not Improve Low Back Pain Care
JAMA reports on a randomized clinical trial of 202 adults with acute low back pain showing the addition of intensive patient education failed to improve pain outcomes.
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Hip and Knee Replacements Monitored by Smart Watch
Reuters reports that patients with hip or knee replacements will now be followed for progress using their Apple watches.
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Physical Therapy Equals Arthroscopic Surgery in Meniscal Tears
Several new trials suggest that conservative management may be as efficacious as arthroscopic surgery in patients with meniscal tears, thus contributing to the trend of fewer arthroscopic surgeries. A new trial of patients with nonobstructive meniscal tears shows no significant difference in 2 year outcomes between physical therapy and early arthroscopic partial meniscectomy.
RheumNow Week in Review – I Wanna New Drug (9.28.18)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news from the past week on RheumNow.com, including news on inappropriate opioids, pre-clinical RA treatment, DMARDs in Gout, the decline of arthroscopy, and a pain in the mouth.
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Knee Arthroscopic Surgeries on the Decline
A JAMA Internal Medicine report has shown that the rate of arthroscopic surgery has significantly declined, in an era when arthroplasty and the incidence of osteoarthritis (OA) has increased.
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The RheumNow Week in Review – No Good Gout (8.10.18)
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.
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Early Hip Fracture Surgery Reduces Mortality
CMAJ reports that seniors are more likely to survive a hip fracture if the surgery is done as soon as they’re admitted to the hospital - suggesting hospitals should expedite operating room access for patients whose surgery has already been delayed for nonmedical reasons.
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Limited Utility of Arthroscopic Meniscal Surgery
JAMA Surgery reports that arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) is still one of the most common surgeries performed, despite evidence from large trials (eg, FIDELITY study) showing that APM is no more effective than exercise and physical therapy, especially in adults over age 65 years.
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The RheumNow Week in Review - 2 March 2018
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Hip Replacement Augments Longevity
Data from Swedish hip replacement registry finds that total hip arthroplasty not only improves quality of life, it is also associated with increased life expectancy that lasts for 10 years after surgery, especially in primary osteoarthritis patients.
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The RheumNow Week in Review - 23 February 2018
Dr Jack Cush reviews highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com. This week’s video is in two parts; for part Ii, go to https://buff.ly/2BM9MjL
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Oral Anticoagulation Effective Following Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery
Many protocols call for anticoagulation after total hip or total knee arthroplasty to prevent venous thromboembolism (proximal deep-vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism), and some reports have suggested a role for aspiring or direct oral anticoagulants as preventative therapy. The NEJM has reported that oral anticoagulation with rivaroxaban (Xarelto) followed by aspirin to be effective prophylaxis.
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Laparoscopic Gastric Sleeve Compared to Bypass Bariatric Surgery
JAMA reports the results of a 5 year Finnish study comparing the results of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy vs Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and shows that gastric bypass yielded greater weight loss at 5 years, the difference was not statistically significant, in patients with morbid obesity.
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The RheumNow Week in Review - 12 January 2018
Dr. Jack Cush reviews a dozen highlights from the past week on RheumNow.com.
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Small Joint Surgeries Drop Among RA Patients
The rate of small - but not large - joint surgery has dropped among patients with rheumatoid arthritis since 1995, a retrospective review of orthopedic surgeries found. By 2015, less than 1% of patients per year underwent small joint surgery, reported Ashima Makol, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues in Arthritis Care & Research.
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Frequency of Rheumatoid Knee Replacements Down in the Biologic Era
A time-series analysis of incident rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients seen between 1996 and 2011 in the Danish National Patient Register shows that the incidence of hip (THR) and knee replacements (TKR) began to decrease after the introdution of biologic agents for RA in 2002.
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