Reconsidering Steroids

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There is not a single one of us in rheumatology who hasn’t prescribed steroids, but we really need to reconsider how much and how often we use them.

TNFi and RA-ILD – The Pendulum Swings Again

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TNF inhibitors revolutionised the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. While highly effective for the joint manifestations of the disease, a note of caution was sounded regarding the potential for worsening of ILD with these agents. Within this framework, a study by England et al presented at ACR23 was highly relevant.

IgG4 disease- the WInS withdrawal study results

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IgG4-related disease describes a group of fibroinflammatory diseases whose features may include autoimmune pancreatitis, swelling of or within an organ system, salivary gland disease, swollen lymph nodes, skin manifestations, and symptoms consistent with allergies or asthma. While remission induction treatment with glucocorticoids has proven effective, the high relapse tendency is an ongoing challenge for clinicians.

Why are older RA patients getting mistreated?

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Most rheumatologists, if asked, would say that every rheumatoid arthritis patient should be started on a DMARD of some sort - if not at diagnosis, then pretty soon after. So I am genuinely shocked that, in a large United States Medicare 20% sample dataset between 2008-17, less than 30% of new RA patients aged 66 years or older have a DMARD initiated.

Early aggressive treatment in SLE: are we there yet?

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Early treatment with DMARDs has revolutionised the outcomes of patients with rheumatic arthritis. However, this concept has not been fully extrapolated to other autoimmune rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus.

Do We Stop or Continue Treatment?

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Remission had been a dream, an elusive concept. But then, with the introduction of biologics, conventional synthetic and targeted synthetic DMARDS, patients are able to live longer and with a better quality of life. While these therapeutics have been helpful, they are expensive and carry potential side effects. The big question looms: Do we stop or continue treatment?

JAKi and TYK2i: What to use and when?

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You can see that the JAKi/TYK2i have both approved or potential seropositive and seronegative indications. There are also improvements in PsO for the class and studies in CTDs. So, it is difficult to know which to choose.

Can Rheumatologists Accurately Diagnose axSpA in Patients with Chronic Back Pain?

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Chronic low back pain is a common complaint that brings patients to the doctor’s attention. Although the majority of low back pain is mechanical in nature, an important minority is inflammatory in nature.

Rheumatology Roundup - ACR 2023

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Drs. Jack Cush and Arthur Kavanaugh discuss highlights and key takeaways from ACR 23.

#ACRbest Abstracts – Day 4

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While there wasn’t much original new programming and research presented on the final day, that didn’t slow the RheumNow faculty from tweeting the noteworthy “Best of ACR” abstracts. Enjoy these below.

The impact of SGLT2-inhibitor on SLE outcomes

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Since chronic kidney disease is one of the strongest CV risk factors, any new strategy to reduce proteinuria and avoid a decline in renal function may likely improve patient outcomes. In large cardiovascular outcome trials, the use of a fairly new-kid-on-the-block therapy, sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) appear to be both cardio and renal-protective. Would the use of SGLT2i have the same impact in SLE?

ACR 2023 – Day 4 Report

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The last day at ACR23 was a ghost town as most left, largely because there was limited programming on the fourth and final day. The main attraction on Day 4 was the late-breaking abstract – oral presentations.  Here’s a list of the late breakers; below, I provide commentary on the ones that caught my attention.