Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Using Synovial Tissue Biopsies to Develop Precision Medicine for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Researchers at Northwestern University have used ultrasound-guided tissue biopsy from the joints to analyze the genes of tissue macrophages with the hope that transcriptional profiling of synovial macrophages may be correlated with clinical parameters or drug responsiveness in rheumatoi
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MMWR: Arthritis Prevalence Increases and Varies Widely
MMWR reports that In 2015, the number of adults with arthritis continued to increase; with marked geographic variability in arthritis estimates with gaps in arthritis management.
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Repeat Malignancy Unlikely with Biologic Therapy
Research from the Danish biologics registry shows that the use of a biologic in patients with a history of a primary cancer does not increase the risk of a second malignant neoplasm (SMN) or mortality in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
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The RheumNow Week in Review - 16 March 2018
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the highlights from the news, journals and major meetings. Bigtime rheumatologic lessons with tales from intestinal crypts, the friendly skies & the hips of hockey players. Also the microbiome and lupus, benefits of ENT findings with GPA and rare risk of opportunistic infections with biologics.
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Opportunistic Infections in RA Rare with Biologics
The British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register for Rheumatoid Arthritis has studied nearly 20,000 patients and observed that there is no substantially different risk of opportunistic infections between different biologics.
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Bone Marrow Edema Found in SI Joint of Athletes
New research shows that young elite athletes will not commonly manifest bone marrow edema in the SI joint following activity.
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Plaquenil During Lupus Pregnancy Lessens Flares
A large cohort study of pregnant and non-pregnant women with systemic lupus erythematosus has shown that lupus flares are increased during pregnancy and in the 3  months follwing delivery.
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Limited Utility of Arthroscopic Meniscal Surgery
JAMA Surgery reports that arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) is still one of the most common surgeries performed, despite evidence from large trials (eg, FIDELITY study) showing that APM is no more effective than exercise and physical therapy, especially in adults over age 65 years.
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CARES Study- More CV Deaths with Febuxostat
The CARES study was presented Monday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando and finds that while the rates of all major cardiovascular (CV) events were comparable between febuxostat or allopurinol, there were more CV deaths with febuxostat.
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Dealing with Drug Reps - Dead or Alive
Several years ago, long before promotional lectures, I traveled for a series of lectures. I flew north for 4 days and 4 lectures, 2 at major university programs and 2 dinner lectures to local rheumatologists.The first lecture went well but the weather turned bad, with a snow storm in the overnight forecast. Hence my host, a local drug rep, suggested we drive at night to beat the snow and get to the next city for the 10 am University lecture the following morning.The one-hour drive felt like a week in Cleveland.
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