Blogs
The Still’s Continua
The concept of a “Still’s disease continuum” that encompasses both sJIA and AOSD is based on the many common clinical, genetic and laboratory features shared by both sJIA and AOSD.
2021 GRAPPA Recommendations - Looking Back, Looking Forward
With the recent publication of the third iteration of the GRAPPA Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) treatment recommendations, it seems to be an auspicious time to reflect on some key considerations that arose during the development of the recommendations, as well as to look towards what the future may hold.
A Domain-Based Approach to the GRAPPA Psoriatic Arthritis Treatment Recommendations
With their publication in June 2022 (1), the 3rd iteration of the Group for Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) Treatment recommendations for Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) may have set a record or sorts.
Toss of a Coin - How do You Choose PsA Medication?
When balancing all these disease domains, individual phenotypes, and comorbidities, sometimes treatment decisions can feel like tossing a coin. Fortunately, numerous guidelines have been published to help us do better than tossing a coin…or do they?
Pregnancy and Psoriatic Arthritis
Patient TS was a 30 year old woman who had been living with psoriatic arthritis for about 18 months. Her symptoms had started about 6 months after the birth of her first child with mild psoriasis in her scalp but increasing joint pain in her hands, wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles.
Methotrexate in PsA
Until the publication of the SEAM trial, evidence in the medical literature for the efficacy of the most commonly used drug for psoriatic arthritis worldwide, methotrexate, has been lukewarm at best. Yet we all employ it commonly, either as monotherapy or in combination with biologic or targeted synthetic DMARD treatment. It is inexpensive and widely available, and only modestly toxic.
Combination Biologic Therapy in PsA: The beginning of a new era?
Without question, basic immunology is at the foundation of rheumatology as a discipline. Indeed, for many rheumatologists, it was the intricacies of the immune system that attracted us into the field. With each passing year, extraordinary advances in scientific methods begat tremendous gains in our understanding of the immune system. Excitingly, we may be entering a new era, driven by results in psoriatic arthritis and other related diseases.
Best of 2021: Steroid Poker
It began as many cases do: an ill patient, in the ICU, with signs and symptoms across several body systems, yet no clear unifying diagnosis on admission. With things stabilizing, the internal medicine hospital team on which I was serving as hospitalist that week assumed care of the patient. As the case unfolded – pulmonary infiltrates that could be hemorrhagic, renal dysfunction with proteinuria – rheumatic diseases rose in the differential. When serologic studies and other data suggested GPA rather than glomerular basement membrane (GBM) disease or other possibilities such as infection, it seemed the right time to act. And that is when a game of what I call “steroid poker” began.
Best of 2021: Drug Safety Risk Communication- The 800 lb Gorilla Approach
Discussions on drug safety can be as treacherous as quicksand for the patient and physician. What the physician knows and what the patient perceives may not be in sync.
Best of 2021: Consults in Cars
In this episode of Dialing for Doctors (aka, Tales of Telehell), we consider a growing subset of telehealth seekers connecting from their cars. This has happened several times and it always catches me surprise. While I've had "live" televideo visits with patients walking the dog, waking up in bed, and from the waiting room of another doctor's office, consults in cars is about the nuttiest. What is the patient's role in telehealth?