ATLANTA—Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS), a subset of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) disease, can be a fatal result of rheumatic disease. But there’s good news: New therapeutic options for refractory MAS targeting individual cytokines are emerging. At the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting, possible therapeutic options were presented during a pediatric-focused clinical and translational research track, Therapeutic Approaches…
ATLANTA—With more than 3,000 abstracts from 103 countries presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting in November, it was impossible for attendees to view them all. However, two ACR/ARP veterans—Arthur Kavanaugh, MD, from the University of California, San Diego, and John Cush, MD, from UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas—chose to tackle the nearly impossible task and…
ATLANTA—A key goal for rheumatology researchers and clinicians is to predict through specific biomarkers if someone will, at some point in their future, develop rheumatoid arthritis (RA). If so, the disease could be prevented or stopped before the inflammation and ravaging begins, explained researchers during a Basic Science lecture at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—High-intensity statins are associated with a lower risk of joint replacement, new findings show. “Statins at high intensity may reduce the risk of hip and knee replacement. The effect may be RA specific,” Dr. Aliya Sarmanova of the University of Nottingham, U.K., and colleagues write in Rheumatology.1 Statins have anti-inflammatory effects, and…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In daily clinical practice, following a treat-to-target (T2T) strategy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) leads to higher rates of remission compared with not following a T2T strategy, according to a longitudinal analysis of real world data. “The results of the analysis provide direct evidence that following T2T, and particularly sustained T2T,…
The new coronavirus outbreak, COVID-19, reminds us how we have struggled to keep ahead of mutating pathogens through the ages.
ATLANTA—Managing pediatric patients with rheumatic disease involves special considerations, such as developmental concerns and physiological traits that may affect dosing of medications, according to two experts. During a session at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting, Courtney Kremer, ARNP, a pediatric nurse practitioner at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, Iowa City, and Jessica…
ATLANTA—The increasing ease and the lowering cost of genome and exome sequencing make discovery and diagnosis of rare diseases more feasible than ever, but hurdles still need to be cleared before the world of medicine can fully harness the power of this information boom, experts said in a session at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting….
ATLANTA—When it comes to treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, most clinicians agree: One size does not fit all. Many treatment options exist, and seldom is there 100% consensus on what the first course of action or general approach should be. In the face of such variability, four clinicians took the stage at the 2019 ACR/ARP…
ATLANTA—Osteoporosis in premenopausal women is uncommon compared with its frequency in post-menopausal women, but when it is suspected, it poses some difficult questions for clinicians: How should it be diagnosed in this understudied population? If found, should it be treated—and how? Elizabeth Shane, MD, professor of medicine at Columbia University and attending physician at New…