Articles By Jack Cush, MD
Pre-Treatment Testing with Biologics Falls Short
US commercial insurance claim analysis of laboratory screening and monitoring practices in chronic inflammatory skin disease (CISD) patients shows that < 60% received the recommended pretreatment testing when starting systemic immunomodulatory treatment.
Read Article
One-Third of Physicians Intend to Leave Academia
A cross-sectional survey of academic physicians shows that approximately one-third intend to leave their institutions in the next two years. Burnout, lack of professional fulfillment, and other personal and organizational factors were associated with intention to leave.
Read Article
Half of Subclinical Synovitis Patients May Remit
Ultrasound subclinical synovitis is found in a third of individuals at risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients; in half of these, subclinical synovitis resolves with a favorable outcome.
Read Article
Dead Words Eulogy
The trouble with rheumatology may be the words we live by. Welcome to the eulogy for rheumatology 'dead words'. We're here today to celebrate the loss of rheumatology past. These are dead words in rheumatology, words fortified unfortunately by history and habit. The lexicon of rheumatology is unique, it's challenging and it's mostly incomprehensible to those who don't know...but those are the cornerstones of the greatest of medical subspecialties.
Read Article
Anti-Drug Antibodies and Biologic Drug Responses
A prospective cohort study suggests the presence of antidrug antibodies may be associated with bDMARDs nonresponse in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Should we be monitoring ADAbs (especially in nonresponders)?
Read Article
Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis
A prospective study of the BioSTAR registry estimates the prevalence of cardiovascular disease in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to be 4.6%.
Read Article
Best Treatments for COVID-Related MIS-C
The RECOVERY trial focused on pediatric MIS-C patients treated with immunomodulators and anti-cytokine therapy demonstrated the benefits of first-line therapy with intravenous methylprednisolone or second-line tocilizumab in children refractory to initial treatment.
Read Article
Severe Hypocalcemia Risk with Denosumab and CKD Patients
On 1-19-2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Drug Safety Communication about the risk of severe hypocalcemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients taking denosumab for osteoporosis, with an accentuated risk in older women who are dialysis-dependent. This report is an update to their November 2022 investigation, the results of a related study being recently reported in JAMA.
Read Article
Methotrexate Nodulosis (1.19.2024)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from this past week on RheumNow.com. How good (or not) are rheumatologists and what to do about MTX nodulosis?
Read Article
Rheumatologists and the Early Diagnosis of Spondyloarthritis
SPACE study of adults referred to rheumatology with less than 2 years of chronic back pain (CBP), shows that only one-third can be reliably diagnosed with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA).
Read Article