Clinical Skills

RheumNow Podcast - Speak Up! (6.18.2021)

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Dr. Jack Cush talks on education, engagement and the challenge of speaking up, if not first!

Artificial intelligence brings clarity to early bony changes in inflammatory arthritis

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Subtle early bony changes in inflammatory arthritis can be hard even for experienced rheumatologists to interpret, even though they have traditionally been considered to become disease-defining as they progress. As computational techniques have become more sophisticated and more accessible,

Current approach to lupus and pregnancy

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All of us are extremely cautious with lupus patients when it comes to pregnancy. Presentation 6888 (Common issues in pregnancy management in lupus and anti-phospholipid syndrome by Dr. Rebecca Fischer-Betz) was an excellent overview of our current approach to lupus and pregnancy. 

Q-DAPSA for Measuring Disease Activity in PsA

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Given its multiple domains, there remains much discussion over the best disease activity scoring method in PsA. The proverbial "holy grail" would be a measure that is quick, intuitive, domain comprehensive and validated.

Foot Pain Commonly Overlooked in RA

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Foot pain is a common but underappreciated symptom of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and can be associated with worse disease, European researchers found.

In a cohort of 320 patients with RA, 69% reported foot or ankle pain, according to Morten Bilde Simonsen, PhD, of Aalborg University in

RheumNow Live 2021 Now Available for All

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RheumNow Live (RNL) for 2021 was held March 20 - 21 in Fort Worth, TX, and now all can partake in the meeting - by video, podcast or by signing up for Tuesday Nite Rheumatology (TNR).

RNL has finished its 3rd year as a hybrid meeting, with the live meeting streamed to hundreds at home

ARTIC REWIND - Don't Half DMARD Therapy

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The ARTIC-REWIND study examined rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in remission on conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) to see if they could "step-down" their csDMARDs theray; but  the study showed that 25% those who went on half-dose experienced disease

Drug Monitoring Ineffective with Infliximab Treatment

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The predictive value of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) while on biologics is debateable; gastroenterology routinely relies on TDM, while rheumatologists do not. A randomized trial compared TDM to no TDM in patients receiving infliximab for chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (

Seven Year Delay in Diagnosing Spondyloarthritis

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A large patient cohort study suggests that the mean diagnostic delay (DD) in European axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) patients is 7.4 years, moreso in women and younger patients.

An online survey of 2,652 patients from 13 countries (European Map of Axial Spondyloarthritis - EMAS)

Little Effect with Multimodal Treatment of CMC1 Osteoarthritis

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A randomized clinical trial of patients with CMC1 osteoarthritis shows modest benefits when a combination of conservative treatments (education, splinting, hand exercises, 1% diclofenac sodium gel) was used compared to education alone. While there were small to medium benefits with regard to

Golimumab Effective in non-radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis

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The GO-AHEAD study was designed to assess the long-term efficacy and safety of golimumab (GLM) in non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA).  After the 16-week, placebo [PBO]-controlled double-blind phase, 189/198 (95.5%) entered the long-term extension (OLE) for 36 weeks wherein

Lupus Activity Affects Mortality

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Each one-unit increase on a disease activity score during the first year after enrollment into a systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) cohort was associated with a significant increased risk for death and organ damage during subsequent follow-up, researchers reported.

Diagnostic Delay in Spondyloarthritis

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Literature review and metanalysis of many studies suggests that significant delay to diagnosis in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) exist, are longer than other rheumatic diseases and have not changed over time.

From a total of 64 studies identified the reported mean delay in diagnosing

RheumNow Podcast – Mistakes with Steroids

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Dr Jack Cush gives his spin on this week's RheumNews and Rheum Research from RheumNow.com.

Enthesitis Responses to Secukinumab in Spondylitis Patients

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Schett and colleagues studies the secukinumab (an IL-17 inhibitor) response in patients from 3 clinical trials with enthesitis and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and demonstrated consistent efficacy with improved enthesitis scores at both peripheral and axial sites.

Pooled data from the

Paucity of Effectiveness Research on Telemedicine in RA

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A systematic review of telehealth in delivering equivalent care in RA patients demonstrates there is limited evidence that virtual RA care is equivalent to conventional face-to-face care. Despite current widespread use, there is a great need for credible well-designed research that will address

ANAGO Study - Anakinra for Gout Flare

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The interleukin (IL)-1 receptor antagonist anakinra (Kineret) was not superior to triamcinolone for relieving gout flares, but had similar effects for pain reduction as the glucocorticoid, a randomized phase II study found.