Articles By Bella Mehta, MBBS, MS
AI vs Rheumatologist? The Better Answer May Be Both
Can artificial intelligence answer patients’ rheumatology questions as well as a rheumatologist?
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Lupus Nephritis Reshapes Pregnancy Risk
Investigators presented an abstract using Epic Cosmos to examine pregnancy outcomes in women with SLE across health systems nationwide. Beyond confirming that SLE pregnancies remain higher risk, the study highlights two important opportunities: the ability to use large-scale, real-world data to study relatively uncommon outcomes in lupus, and the importance of lupus nephritis history when counseling patients and planning pregnancy.
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Sublingual Cyclobenzaprine for Fibromyalgia: A Win, But a Modest One
It is encouraging to see a new treatment option for fibromyalgia after more than 15 years without a new FDA-approved therapy. But we should look beyond whether a trial met its statistical endpoint and ask a more practical question: how much better did patients actually feel?
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From Cytokine Endotypes to Clinical Reality in Still’s Disease
Recent EULAR 2026 data highlight a paradigm shift in Still’s disease from syndromic management to biologically informed precision therapy.
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LLMs in SLE: From Patient Education to Clinical Decision Support
The emergence of large language models (LLMs) represents a promising shift in how complex diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are communicated and interpreted across both patient and clinical settings. Two EULAR 2026 abstracts highlight the evolving role of LLMs across this spectrum, from patient-facing education to diagnostic reasoning.
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What’s New in Macrophage Activation Syndrome Therapeutics
MAS, the most severe complication of Still’s disease, is increasingly recognized as a cytokine-driven hyperinflammatory state centered on interferon gamma (IFNγ). Therapeutic advances presented at EULAR 2026 demonstrate both consolidation of established pathways and expansion into novel biologic strategies.
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From Skepticism to Reconsideration: 4‑Year CAR‑T Outcomes in Lupus
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T‑cell therapy, long established in hematologic malignancies, is now emerging as a transformative approach in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a disease historically managed with chronic immunosuppression.
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Deep Learning Model Accurately Detects Ankylosing Spondylitis on MRI
AI continues to move from research labs into rheumatology clinics, promising to reshape how inflammatory diseases are diagnosed and monitored. Ankylosing spondylitis, in particular, poses a diagnostic challenge—its early imaging findings are subtle, and radiographic changes may take years to appear and require specific musculoskeletal radiology expertise. A new deep learning model offers a glimpse into how AI could bridge this diagnostic gap.
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Bone Density in Ankylosing Spondylitis
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a burden on the bones—both literally and diagnostically. The disease’s dual nature, marked by chronic inflammation and abnormal new bone formation, complicates the assessment of bone health.
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Beyond the Breakthrough: Equity and Access in CAR-T Cell Therapy for RA
At ACR Convergence 2025, abstract 1039 entitled, “Global Cost-Effectiveness and Equity in CAR-T Cell Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis” adds a critical dimension to the growing enthusiasm around cellular therapies in autoimmune disease.
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