As his term as chair of the Affiliate Society Council draws to a close, Chris Adams, MD, FACP, FACR, reflects on the personal and professional rewards of volunteer leadership and the importance and impact of coordinated state-level advocacy efforts for the future of rheumatology.
After a busy day in rheumatology, Polly Ferguson, MD, gets creative at a local arts center, making beautiful pottery pieces, a skill she has wanted to develop for nearly 30 years.
Research has found blood tests detect elevations of autoantibody isotypes in patients years before they are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). According to Kevin Deane, MD, PhD, identifying patients during this pre-RA period may be key to preventing or delaying the onset of RA.
Pandemic fatigue is affecting rheumatologists and their patients in different ways, says Nilanjana Bose, MD, MBA. But efforts are being made at her clinic to stay positive and ensure quality patient care.
Acute gout can be very painful, causing patients to seek treatment in the emergency department. A retrospective study of pain interventions for gout in Rhode Island found that nearly 30% of patients received prescriptions for opioid medications over 30 months. Of these prescriptions, over 80% were for patients who had never been exposed to opioids…
The umbrella term crystalline disease covers arthritic conditions caused by deposition of crystals and associated inflammatory response, including erythema, edema and intense pain. The two most common crystal-induced arthropathies are gout, an arthritis secondary to inflammation caused by the presence of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals formed through high levels of serum urate, and calcium pyrophosphate…
Preclinical models have provided important insights into the pathogenesis of OA and potential pathways for therapeutic intervention, including adenosine. Ticagrelor and clopidogrel are both used in patients with coronary artery disease, but only ticagrelor increases extracellular adenosine levels. In this study, treatment with ticagrelor was associated with a 29% lower risk of developing OA than treatment with clopidogrel over five years of follow-up.
The FDA is recommending pregnant women avoid using NSAIDs as early as week 20 of pregnancy due to the risk of kidney problems in a developing fetus.
In light of the release of the ACR’s new gout guideline, it’s not surprising that 50 abstracts of studies on various aspects of gout were accepted at ACR Convergence 2020. Here, we highlight just a few:
Researchers are finding that antigens from the microbiota may play a role in the development of autoimmunity.