Conditions

Subcategories:Axial Spondyloarthritis Clinical Criteria/Guidelines Gout and Crystalline Arthritis Myositis Osteoarthritis and Bone Disorders Other Rheumatic Conditions Pain Syndromes Pediatric Conditions Psoriatic Arthritis Rheumatoid Arthritis Sjögren’s Disease Soft Tissue Pain Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Systemic Sclerosis Vasculitis

Rheumatology Coding Corner Answers: ICD-10 Coding Guidelines, Conventions Refresher Quiz Part 2

From the College | February 17, 2016

Take the challenge. D—Even though the patient’s chief complaint is for a follow-up of chronic idiopathic gout without tophi, the patient is presenting with an acute flare of idiopathic gout of the left knee. Acute gout and chronic gout have specific coding guidelines, because they each have an Excludes 1 note. This indicates they are…

What Listening to Lungs Might Teach About Rheumatic Disease

Simon M. Helfgott, MD | February 17, 2016

One of your first clinical assignments as a medical student was likely to have been the lung exam. Its key descriptors may still resonate in your mind: inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation. Proudly parading down the hospital corridors, your newly purchased stethoscope snugly tucked inside your lab coat pocket, you carefully place its cold metal…

APS: What Rheumatologists Should Know about Hughes Syndrome

Graham R.V. Hughes, MD, FRCP | February 17, 2016

The problem that dogs the work of all of those treating patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is the apparent lack of knowledge of the syndrome, both by the general public, as well as by swaths of the medical fraternity. Perhaps it was ever thus—a syndrome less than 40 years old could be described as new,…

Case Study in Dermatology: Tender Papules on Elbows, Hands in RA

Drew Kurtzman, MD, & Timothy McCalmont, MD, with Ruth Ann Vleugels, MD, MPH, & Joseph F. Merola, MD, MMSc | February 17, 2016

The Case A 41-year-old woman was referred to the dermatology clinic for a three-month history of tender lesions on her elbows and around the joints of her hands. Her medical history was notable for seropositive, non-erosive rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which was being treated with 5 mg prednisone daily, 10 mg methotrexate weekly by mouth, 200…

2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Next Generation Sequencing and Disease Mechanisms

Mary Beth Nierengarten | February 17, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO—By harnessing the power of next generation sequencing strategies and combining them with clever statistical strategies and tools, investigators are striving to define causal pathways of and mechanisms underlying complex diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to Soumya Raychaudhuri, MD, PhD, associate professor, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, during a session…

FDA Update: Infliximab Biosimilar Garners Support & Fibromyalgia Drug Receives Fast Track

Michele B. Kaufman, PharmD, BCGP | February 17, 2016

Recently, an FDA committee announced support for the approval of CT-P13, an infliximab biosimilar. The FDA has also fast tracked the development of a fibromyalgia treatment designed for multiple symptoms…

Rheumatology Case Report: Chondromyxoid Fibroma of the Sternum

Rajaie Namas, MD, Reshma Khan, MD, & Bernard Rubin, DO | February 16, 2016

A 47-year-old Caucasian woman presented to the rheumatology clinic with a one-year history of pain and swelling involving the wrists, hands, ankles and feet that progressively worsened. Her symptoms included generalized fatigue, morning stiffness in the hands and lower back lasting more than an hour, Raynaud’s phenomena (triphasic), photosensitivity, tightening of the skin of the…

2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Research Offers Clues to Environmental Triggers of RA

Susan Bernstein | February 16, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO—Research is revealing more clues about the environmental factors that likely play a role in triggering rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients who are susceptible—or that may even protect them from autoimmunity. Large-scale, lengthy population studies conducted at institutions worldwide provide in-depth data from which to identify potential triggers and protective factors for RA, from…

2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Stroke Risk Elevated after Herpes Zoster Infection Among Patients with Autoimmune Disease

Thomas R. Collins | February 16, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO—The risk of stroke after herpes zoster (HZ) infection is elevated in the period immediately after infection in patients with autoimmune diseases, according to a study presented at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting.1 The findings were presented in a scientific session, called Discover 2015, that highlighted new research. In another study from the session,…

2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: How Gender Differences Affect Pain

Thomas R. Collins | February 16, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO—Men and women have different mechanisms that are at work in producing pain in rheumatic diseases—a little-studied and little-appreciated fact that is crucial to developing and using the right kinds of treatments, an expert in rheumatic disease pain said in a talk at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The lack of acknowledgment of this…