A New Era? JAK inhibitors in the Management of RA

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ACR 2018 has come and gone. It was a conference filled with a number of highlights. One thing from this conference which really stood out was the continued plethora of data on JAK inhibitors. First in RA, and now in psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis.

Spotlight on Interstitial Lung Disease at ACR 2018

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Here are a few important advances in our understanding of interstitial lung disease (ILD) from the ACR 2018 meeting last week.

Imaging Reveals Anatomical Focus of Inflammation in PMR

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Two studies presented at ACR18 have used imaging to examine one of the key unanswered questions in polymyalgia rheumatica - what structures are the focus of inflammation in the disease – and demonstrated that peritendineal involvement is ubiquitous in and distinctive of PMR.

Anti-phospholipid Antibodies and Myocardial Infarction.

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The Annals of Internal Medicine features a communique from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden demonstrating that elevated levels of antiphospholipid antibodies may be found in patients with myocardial infarction without any autoimmune co-morbidity, published in Annals of Internal M

'These Results Are Astonishing': What We Heard at ACR 2018

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"If radiation was a drug that could improve survival in the metastatic setting like that it would be millions and millions of dollars." -- James B. Yu, of Yale Cancer Center, discussing aggressive use of stereotactic body radiation therapy in oligometastatic cancer.

Treat-to-Target Strategy Cuts Mortality in Gout Patients

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More intense treatment of gout with a treat-to-target strategy can reduce patients' risk for death, a Spanish researcher told a press conference Monday at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting here.

RheumNow ACR Week in Review: ACR Wrap-Up (10.26.18)

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This past week in Chicago gave us a plethora of new and eye-opening research, people, KOLs, exhibits, sessions, guidelines, posters and a never-ending supply of coffee served in small paper cups.  ACR 2018 highlights for me included:

Update on Myositis

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The ACR/ARHP 2018 national meeting in Chicago presented us with opportunities to learn more about inflammatory myositis. A particularly interesting lecture was HOT topics in myositis. There were a few abstracts on MDA-5 related disease and a few on new or repurposed medications for dermatomyositis which will be covered here.

ACR 2018 - Day 4 Report

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Highlights from Tuesday and Wednesday (days 3 and 4) from the ACR annual meeting include: the important and impactful abstracts covered by the Rheumatology Roundup session; upadacitinib clinical trials; and the baricitinib CV and VTE safety analysis.

Updates on Psoriatic Arthritis at ACR 2018

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I think 2018 was the year that belonged to psoriatic arthritis (although some may argue in favor of immune conditions induced by Checkpoint inhibitors). Many years ago the late Professor Verna Wright in Leeds (UK) was a lone voice for many years describing the clinical subtypes of Psoriatic arthritis as something distinctive from rheumatoid arthritis. For a long time we thought that the treatments for PsA were just the same as RA since we were treating the same problem of synovitis.

The 16th Annual La Paulee

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La Paulee is traditionally the party/feast after harvest and a time when hard work is rewarded with food, fun, and wine. And so it was that evening; after better understanding genes, cytokines, and pathology it was time to have a good time with friends, old and new.

Checkpoint Inhibitor-related Myositis – Something Different

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As expected, this year’s ACR meeting saw an upswing in the number of abstracts on immune related adverse events from checkpoint inhibitor therapy compared to last year.