Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections Fail in Ankle Osteoarthritis
A controlled trial of intra-articular platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections into the ankle of osteoarthritis (OA) patients failed to improve ankle symptoms and function when compared to placebo injections - yet another trial showing that intraarticular injections are seldom beneficial.
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Pfizer/Lilly Pull Tanezumab Development
Today, Lilly and Pfizer announced their global clinical development of the NGF inhibitor, tanezumab, has been discontinued due to recent negative opinions from the EMA and FDA advisory committee.
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New Hope for NonAlcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
The current issue of the NEJM has two articles on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD also called NASH - nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), one dealing with the prognoses, outcomes and mortality of NAFLD and another prospective and promising interventional trial in NASH patients.
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Increased Preterm Birth Risk in Psoriatic Arthritis Pregnancies
Pregnancy outcomes may be affected by psoriatic arthritis or antirheumatic treatment; registry cohort study shows that preterm birth and cesarean delivery were mostly increased by antirheumatic treatment, especially biologics.
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RheumNow Podcast – Rheumatologist Smoke-Enders (10.22.2021)
Today I have a few questions: Is tramadol really a weak narcotic? Should we really still be doing placebo-controlled trials? What are we going to do about our patients who are smokers? This and more, in this week's review of the news and journal articles.
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Smoking Impairs Methotrexate Efficacy
The Journal of Rheumatology reports that current smoking significantly reduces the clinical efficacy of methotrexate (MTX)-based therapy, as studied in an early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort.
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Stevens-Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Insights
Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) are among the most severe drug reactions, as they come with substantial mortality and morbidity. A review of European centers dealing with SJS and TEN shows that despite best treatment practices, the 6-week mortality rate was 21%.
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Is It OK to Continue TNF Inhibitors with COVID-19 Infection?
Registry level data of patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) diagnosed with COVID-19 should continue their TNF inhibitor (TNFi) therapy as such patients were less likely to experience adverse COVID-19 outcomes (compared to other immunomodulatory treatments).
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NOBILITY: a Trial of Obinutuzumab in Proliferative Lupus Nephritis
B-cell depletion therapy with obinutuzumab, a type II anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, in lupus nephritis patients was shown to be effective in in combination with standard lupus therapies.
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TICOSPA - Does Treat to Target Work in Spondyloarthritis?
Tight-control or treat-to-target (T2T) strategy is advocated in several diseases, but the recent TICOSPA trial in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) showed that T2T was not superior to usual care (UC).
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