Articles By Aurelie Najm, MD, PhD
PAH diagnosis and management in the context of CTD ILD
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a serious complication of connective tissue disorders. Approximately 25% of patients with PAH have an underlying CTD, making CTD-PAH the second most common cause of PAH. During the session on Management of Lung Complications in CTD at APLAR 2025, Prof. Dinesh Khanna and Masataka Kuwana provided an excellent overview of PAH diagnosis and management strategies the context of CTD-ILD.
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APLAR 2025: What’s New in RA Management?
The unveiling of the updated 2025 recommendations for RA treatment, presented by Josef Smolen in the plenary session on the first day of the conference, sparked attention. Although not yet formally published, these updated recommendations represent a refined consensus that simplifies decision-making while reinforcing the importance of treat-to-target principles in RA.
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A new mechanism of action in SARD-ILD
Nerandomilast, an inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 4B, orally administered, is a new mechanism of action to treat lung fibrotic diseases.
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Methotrexate and Leflunomide combination in RA/PsA: Is it safe?
I asked the EULAR twitter sphere how they feel about combination of methotrexate (MTX) and leflunomide (LEF). The opinions are differing so far, with 50% reporting prescribing this combination often while 50% are worried of side effects. Several abstracts presented this year are providing further data to help us make up our minds in RA and PsA.
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Cancer risk in rheumatoid arthritis: anything new?
Is there a higher risk of cancer that comes with the disease? Or with the treatments? So many confounding parameters, such as disease duration, disease state, and disease activity come into play. A promising session explored comorbidities in Rheumatoid Arthritis, in particular cancer and cardiovascular events. Here are my takeaways.
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RA: update for women of child bearing potential (and men!)
Fertility in the context of RMDs is a daily concern for a lot of rheumatologists and patients. EULAR this year proposed new fertility data, especially in Rheumatoid Arthritis, along with an update of the EULAR points to consider for use of antirheumatic drugs in reproduction, pregnancy and lactation.
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Dual seropositivity and shared epitopes in RA: friends or foes?
Dual seropositivity (rheumatoid factor and/or anti-citrullinated protein antibodies) as well as shared epitope are known to be associated with poor prognosis and structural damage in RA.
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EULAR 2024: New drugs for RA?
Several abstracts are presenting new compounds, targeting either RA well-known inflammatory pathways or offering new mechanisms of action or therapeutic sequences; these are summarized below.
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ICYMI: Methotrexate: shall we split up?
Methotrexate is widely used in rheumatic diseases yet poses common tolerance issues, especially for the oral form; and bioavailability is known to be limited for doses over 15mg. In the SMART study, Prasad et al. present the first RCT comparing either single dose (25 mg) or split-dose (10 mg morning, 15 mg evening, same day) once weekly MTX for 24 weeks.
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ICYMI: Sex bias in RA: time to stop blaming hormones?
Whether it’s RA, SLE or Sjogren’s, the increased prevalence of females affected by auto-immune diseases is well established, yet not fully understood. Often, I have heard that sexual hormones are responsible for every aspect of it. Two abstracts presented this year question this paradigm.
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