Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Monogenic Inflammatory Disorders Go Unrecognized
Lance Rheumatology has published a large cohort analysis with a genome-first approach using whole exome sequencing to find 1 in 4026 prevalence (159/640092) of monogenic disorders, half with inflammatory features.
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Impact of Myositis in Scleroderma Patients
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) may have overlap features such as myositis. When present, myositis in SSc is associated with an increased risk of cardiac involvement and a shift in mortality away from ILD towards a greater cardiac risk.
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Joint Disease in SLE Reconsidered
A new Frontiers in Immunology review from Ong, Wincup and colleagues, shows that lupus arthropathy is not a single uniform entity and it is biologically under-studied and clinically mismeasured, Moreover, the biology of lupus arthritis may shed light on choosing the best therapy for MSK manifestations of SLE.
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Troubles with ‘Gut Feelings’ (10.16.2026)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews this week's news from RheumNow.com, including: placebo trumps controversial therapies, the dynamics of disease activity, fuse the big toe, and patients don’t appreciate being told “it's all in your head”!
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Should You Use Low Dose Naltrexone?
There's this low grade buzz from some rheumatologists about the potential analgesic benefits of low dose naltrexone. I haven't used it. Should you?
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Lancet: A Public Health Policy Call Out for Osteoarthritis
In honor of World Arthritis Day (Oct. 12th), The Lancet has published a public Health Policy report is to "outline a globally relevant roadmap to address the osteoarthritis identity problem, focusing on health policy responses."
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Surgery for 1st MTP Osteoarthritis
Hallux rigidus, or osteoarthritis of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (MTPJ), is common, but the treatment options and future outcomes are poorly known.
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Don’t Hold the JAK (10.9.2026)
On this week's podcast, Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news: Steroids are easy to start and hard to stop; hold the MTX but not the biologic or JAK, weighing in on avacopan, and age-old messages for old-age patients.
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Don't Hold the Biologic or JAK with COVID-19 Vaccination
A randomized clinical trial in inflammatory arthritis arthritis shows that temporarily holding biologic or Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor therapy at the time of COVID-19 vaccination is not warranted.
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