Exclusive: ACR Convergence 2024| Focus Rheums

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Guidelines

Are Sacroiliac Joint MRIs Accurate in Routine Clinical Practice?

Anna E.F. Hadsbjerg, Simon Krabbe, Nora Vladimirova, Adrian Ciurea, Kristyna Bubova, Monika Gregová, Michael Nissen, Burkhard Moeller, Raphael Micheroli, Susanne Pedersen, Jakub Zavada, Ziga Snoj, Karlo Pintaric, Bjorn Gudbjornsson, Ziga Rotar, Iris Eshed, Iwona Sudol-Szopinska, Kasper Gosvig, Torsten Diekhoff, Robert Lambert, Manouk de hOoge, Helena V.G. Elmo, Merete Hetland, Lykke Oernbjerg & Mikkel Ostergaard  |  

Hadsbjerg et al. compared assessments of sacroiliac joint MRIs in local MRI reports from routine care in five European countries with re-reads by central experts in patients with a diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) to estimate the extent of over- or under-reporting of features and misclassification.

AC&R Study Summary: Standardizing Treatment for Moderately Severe JDM

By Matthew A. Sherman, MD, MHSc, & Stacey E. Tarvin, MD, MS  |  

Why was this study done? Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is the most common type of idiopathic inflammatory myopathy in childhood, and most patients have a chronic disease course requiring prolonged administration of systemic glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents. The initial management for patients with moderately severe JDM is relatively standardized, typically including methotrexate and systemic glucocorticoids with…

Let’s Define Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease

Lucy Masto, BS, Medha Barbhaiya, MD, MPH, Caroline H. Siegel, MD, MS, Lisa R. Sammaritano, MD, & Michael D. Lockshin, MD  |  

Undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD) is a diagnosis given to patients who do not fulfill current classification criteria for named connective tissue diseases (CTD)—systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic sclerosis (SSc), or Sjögren’s disease—but who nonetheless have clinical signs and symptoms and serological evidence of autoimmune CTDs. In 1980 LeRoy et al. were…

Editor's Pick

The ACR and CHEST Release 2 New ILD Guidelines

  |  

Clinicians should not rely on glucocorticoids as a first-line treatment of SARD-ILD in patients with systemic sclerosis, according to a strong recommendation in a new ILD treatment guideline from the ACR and CHEST. The guideline is one of two addressing the screening, monitoring and treatment of patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) secondary to systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs).

Consensus Guidelines on Diagnostic Approach to Giant Cell Arteritis Arrive from Society for Cardiovascular Pathology

Moayad Alqazlan, MBBS, Vidhya Nair, MBBS, MD, & Michael A. Seidman, MD, PhD  |  

At the end of 2023, the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology (SCVP) published consensus guidelines on the diagnostic approach to temporal artery biopsy.1 Through this publication, SCVP hopes to bring more uniformity to the processing, interpretation and reporting of these specimens, taking into consideration the most up-to-date literature available. These guidelines have obvious impact on clinical…