The following is a collection of cases presented to me by my colleagues in Canada during a day of workshop case discussions among clinical consultants. Each case is presented because of a challenging therapeutic issue. Answers are based on experience with references to the recent ACR 2015 RA treatment guideline where appropriate.
Containment of health care costs was a primary goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But there is little evidence of success in curbing the rising price of prescription drugs. As such, many medications are unaffordable to those who need them.
Brouwer and colleagues from the University Medical Center Rotterdam in The Netherlands have studied the issue of infertility in a cohort of RA patients followed prospectively. The PARA study included 245 women who were enrolled preconception or during the first trimester.
A prospective, international observational study of systemic sclerosis patients enrolled in the Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry: Patients were required to have ≥3 follow-up visits over at least a 2 year observation period between 2008-2013. Incident digital ulcerations (DU) were identified along with their associated complications.
The harvest holiday is upon us and many will huddle around the television to enjoy their post-turkey coma; only to awaken and see the highlights of the football they intended to watch.
An article in Science Daily quotes experts at Loyola University on this matter.
Have crony capitalism and medical administrators overtaken science, logic and common sense in healthcare? Dr. John Goldman reviews some recent developments with some misgivings.
A recent report from the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that the oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor tofacitinib to be effective in the treatment of moderate to severe atopic dermatitis.
The American College of Physicians (ACP) says that prescribing generic medications whenever possible can improve adherence to therapy, improve outcomes, and reduce costs for patients and the health care system. ACP’s best practice advice paper is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Let me share a great wine and ACR 2105 story with all of you. It epitomizes everything I think of when I wish to blend my work and my life, and I owe this experience to Mike Schweitz, a noted rheumatologist from Palm Beach.
The following is a compilation of abstracts presented at the 2015 Annual ACR meeting in San Francisco. These were chosen on the basis of impact, quality and safety message.
Extraarticular manifestations affect more then half of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and interstitial lung disease or "RA lung" is one of the more prevalent. The frequency of ILD in patients with RA varies from 5% to 58%.
While new recommendations suggest early aggressive management of rheumatoid arthritis, our ability to assess treatment response is limited to clinical and laboratory assessment.
Synovitis, an oftent subtle manifestation of RA, ultimately leads to joint erosion, and may be hard to detect without imaging techniques.
Reuters today reported that a copy of the blockbuster biotech drug Enbrel (SB4) was recommended for approval in Europe on Friday, making it the second so-called biosimilar antibody medicine to win such a green light from the continent's regulators.
MedPage Today reports that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a final rule governing payment for hip and knee replacements for Medicare patients this week that includes several concessions to stakeholders, such as delaying implementation from early 2016 to later in the year.
Researchers from Vanderbilt University have studied the issue of opioid use in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and whether this influences infection risk. Based on animal data, researchers have postulated that opioids may further immunosuppress those treated. (Citation source http://buff.ly/1QSPiGJ)
