Articles By Michael Putman, MD, MSCI
The Great Debate – Who Really Won?
My favorite session at ACR Convergence is often the “Great Debate.” The debate this year also evaluated one of my favorite topics – ultrasound in giant cell arteritis (GCA). More specifically, it asked the question of whether biopsy or ultrasound should be the preferred modality for diagnosing GCA.
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Sooner May Still Be Too Late: Kidney Biopsies in SLE
ACR Convergence 2025 will be kicking off with a Plenary Session by Michelle Petri (Abstract 0772: Redefining When to Biopsy the Kidney in Patients with SLE), which is a great place to kick off our coverage of the meeting. As part of a collaboration with the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, Petri and colleagues have given data to what many of us have long suspected: a biopsy threshold of 0.5g/d of proteinuria may be too high.
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ICYMI: Effective Treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis ILD
The American College of Rheumatology guidelines for the diagnosis and management of interstitial lung disease, which includes rheumatoid arthritis interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD), has been one of the most controversial topics in the runup to ACR Convergence.
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ICYMI: Bimekizumab is Coming…in Third Place
Of the many exciting advancements for patients with psoriatic arthritis at ACR Convergence, one upcoming therapy stood out: the dual IL-17A/F inhibitor bimekizumab. Nearly two dozen bimekizumab abstracts will be featured at this year’s meeting and it recently received authorization in Europe and the U.S. for psoriasis. That makes this the year I plan to figure out where this drug will be useful for my patients with PsA.
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ICYMI: Here at Last: Treatment Options for VEXAS
We have known about the VEXAS (vacuoles, E1 enzyme, X-linked, autoinflammatory, somatic) syndrome for nearly 3 years, but there has been relatively little to say about how to treat it. To date there have been over twice as many publications about VEXAS (263 publications) as there have been patients described with respect to treatment strategies (116 patients). One of the late breaking abstracts may finally have rectified this imbalance.
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Here at Last: Treatment Options for VEXAS
We have known about the VEXAS (vacuoles, E1 enzyme, X-linked, autoinflammatory, somatic) syndrome for nearly 3 years, but there has been relatively little to say about how to treat it. To date there have been over twice as many publications about VEXAS (263 publications) as there have been patients described with respect to treatment strategies (116 patients). One of the late breaking abstracts may finally have rectified this imbalance.
Read Article
Effective Treatments for Rheumatoid Arthritis ILD
The American College of Rheumatology guidelines for the diagnosis and management of interstitial lung disease, which includes rheumatoid arthritis interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD), has been one of the most controversial topics in the runup to ACR Convergence.
Read Article
Bimekizumab is Coming… in Third Place
Of the many exciting advancements for patients with psoriatic arthritis at ACR Convergence, one upcoming therapy stood out: the dual IL-17A/F inhibitor bimekizumab. Nearly two dozen bimekizumab abstracts will be featured at this year’s meeting and it recently received authorization in Europe and the U.S. for psoriasis. That makes this the year I plan to figure out where this drug will be useful for my patients with PsA.
Read Article
Universal Imaging for GCA in PMR? Not So Fast
For decades we've been screening GCA with a patient history and exam. Doing so with imaging would be a sharp departure from the current standard of care. And you may be asking yourself, well, yeah, but what could it hurt? Don't you want to catch GCA early? Let me tell you the problems with this.
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Screening and Overdiagnosis of ILD in RA
Dr. Michael Putman (Milwaukee, WI) reviews his approach to screening for ILD and RA, the potential for overdiagnosis and how this impacts treatment choices. Does this differ from your approach?
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