Dr. Jack Cush does a 2-week review of RheumNow Tweets on news and journal citations worth noting, along with some opinions on Telehealth, manpower, monkeypox and the price of drugs. Although Rheumatology currently ranks 2nd or 3rd in specialty use of telemedicine - the vast majority of rheums have given up on telehealth (<15%) https://t.co/iDNesBkOnN

POS0309 at EULAR 2022 highlighted both similarities and differences between our patients and ourselves when it comes to PsA disease and treatment strategies. 

Clear differences were apparent among the three major types of targeted medications for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a large European registry study.

Pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) is rare, but often associated with different forms of arthritis, in particular rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases. 

Insurance claims analysis has shown that the use of the (CDC recommended) recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV) for prevention of herpes zoster was highly used in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases and was safe, as higher rates of arthritis flares were not evident.

There are still questions surrounding COVID-19, and some common questions I receive from patients revolve around what to do with their current DMARDs or should they even start treatment during this pandemic. Two studies focused on this question. 

A retrospective cohort study has shown that outcomes in pregnant systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients has significantly improved in the last decade, but there still is a high risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APO). A retrospective Danish SLE cohort was used to identify pregnancies in SLE patients from a single center between January 2010 and October 2020.

The American College of Rheumatology applauds the Federal Trade Commission’s decision to investigate the business practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which continue to increase PBM profit margins while placing the burden of skyrocketing drug costs on America’s most vulnerable patients, including those living with chronic and severe rheumatic diseases.

In SLE, two targets that are increasingly used are the DORIS 2021 Remission and the Lupus Low Disease Activity (LLDAS). T2T is more likely to be successful if the treating clinicians and the patients set the treatment goals together. What do our patients think about T2T and do they have any say/concern?

CDC is tracking multiple reported U.S. monkeypox cases, and monitoring cases in persons in countries without endemic monkeypox and with no known travel links to an endemic area; current epidemiology suggests person-to-person community spread.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the top abstracts from EULAR 2022  As chosen by me with the  aid of the RheumNow EULAR faculty. “Top” is relative and subjective, but my criteria for inclusion are based on impact, water cooler talk potential, innovation and social media buzz.  Speaking of social media…

What can we learn from Oral Surveillance? The Oral Surveillance trial has almost become a household word for rheumatologists.

A nemesis is so much more than the "enemy". Your nemesis defines what matters most to you and how you will overcome. Seth Godin once said, “Pick your enemies, pick your future”.

Rheumatologists have long hoped and wondered whether the right type of early intervention could prevent rheumatoid arthritis occurring in at-risk individuals. While it is often a point of substantive discussion at EULAR, this year’s meeting in Copenhagen provided further data on how therapy might useful before patients develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA), particularly for those at particularly high risk.

Despite updated gout management guidelines from European (EULAR) and British (BSR) societies, treatment of gout is suboptimal with regard to the use of urate-lowering therapy (ULT) and normalizing serum uric acid (< 6.0 mg/dl) levels.