The RheumNow Week in Review - 2 March 2018 Save

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

1. FDG-PET Scans in large vessel vasculitis (eg, Takayasus) capable to detecting active disease with 85% sensitivity and 83% specificity. Abnormal PET during remission, predicts 5 fold high risk of relapse. https://t.co/r2r2oCk0Kj
2. Viscosupplementation of the hip joint DOES NOT WORK in numerous RTCs - with little/no evidence of efficacy at 3 and 6 months. https://t.co/rOk9JJ8uYI
3. Curcumin combined with boswellic acid shown to be effective in 201 osteoarthritis patients in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. https://t.co/Mlai1P7Yww
4. Anti-mitochondrial antibodies found with inflammatory myositis may be associated with severe cardiac involvement. 4/7 had necrotizing myopathy and 3/7 had other autoimmune Dz - PBC, autoimmune hepatitis, Psoriasis, Hashimoto’s https://t.co/bssYfmQXfl
5. A substudy within the BeST study found that TNF inhibitor Rx associated with less Xray development of OA in DIP (but not PIP) joints - 2.3% less for every month of TNFi Rx. https://t.co/zh8WD2DUcW
6. Of 134 RTX treated pts (mean 79 mos), 23 (17%) developed Hypogammaglobulinemia after a mean 64 mos & assoc w/ 4x risk of severe infections. Gammaglobulin <8 g/L at baseline was a predictor of hypogamma (HR 7.34), but MTX was protective (HR 0.26)    https://t.co/AMOtNAUeXR
7. Hip Replacement Augments Longevity  http://rheumnow.com/content/hip-replacement-augments-longevity 
8. Gout Crystal Deposition is Deeper than its Measures    http://rheumnow.com/content/gout-crystal-deposition-deeper-its-measures
9. Probenecid Benefits Heart Failure   http://rheumnow.com/content/probenecid-benefits-heart-failure
10. IL-18 Binding Protein Effective in Adult-Onset Still's Disease  http://rheumnow.com/content/il-18-binding-protein-effective-adult-onset-...