Rheumatoid Arthritis

RA Patients May Be Less Likely to Discontinue Etanercept Than Other TNF Inhibitors

Lara C. Pullen, PhD | January 8, 2020

In a systematic literature review, researchers found that rheumatoid arthritis patients taking etanercept were less likely to discontinue their treatment than patients using any of five other tumor necrosis factor inhibitors…

ACR Publishes Disease Activity and Functional Status Assessment Measure Recommendations for RA

Mary Beth Nierengarten | December 10, 2019

The recommendations include updated disease activity measures and a new set of functional status assessment measures for rheumatoid arthritis.

Antibiotic Use Linked to Higher Risk for RA

Carina Stanton | November 18, 2019

New research finds patients previously treated with antibiotics, antifungals and antivirals may be more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than patients who have not received these treatments…

Figures 1 & 2: Transverse and longitudinal ultrasound views, respectively, of the left posterior knee, revealing a cystic mass with heterogeneous internal echotexture and no stalk.

Ultrasound Aids Diagnosis of Man with Knee Pain & Swelling

Mark H. Greenberg, MD, RMSK, RhMSUS, Prem Patel, Elijah Mitcham, MD, James W. Fant Jr., MD, & Frank R. Voss, MD | November 17, 2019

A 56-year-old automobile mechanic was referred to our rheumatology service by his orthopedist to evaluate left posterior knee pain and swelling that had been present for three months. The patient had undergone bilateral total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) for sports-related osteoarthritis three years before. In addition to the knee pain, the patient described several years of…

Case Report: Rheumatoid Arthritis-Associated Restrictive Pericarditis

Scott Rodriguez, MD, Kenton Powell, MD, & Daniel Albert, MD | November 17, 2019

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease that affects approximately 1% of the adult population, and involvement of extra-articular tissue occurs in approximately 40% of patients over their lifetimes.1 RA-associated pericardial disease is an uncommon complication, and surgery is the only definitive therapy—according to current literature. In this report, we present the case of…

Physical Activity Reduces Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Lara C. Pullen, PhD | October 31, 2019

A recent study has taken a more detailed look at the relationship between physical activity and the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Researchers found the more patients exercised weekly the lower their overall risk, specifically brisk and very brisk walking paces, along with longer cumulative average walking hours weekly were associated with a reduced risk for RA…

Insights into Interstitial Lung Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Jason Liebowitz, MD, FACR | October 18, 2019

MADRID—Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is among the most common autoimmune diseases in the U.S., affecting approximately 1.3 million U.S. adults.1 Although tremendous treatment advances have been made in recent years, one extra-articular manifestation of RA that continues to pose a challenge with regard to detection and management is interstitial lung disease (ILD). At the 2019 European…

Case Report: Cardiac Tamponade in a Rheumatoid Arthritis Patient

Sirajum Munira, MD, Mamta Sherchan, MD, & Christopher Collins, MD, FACR | October 18, 2019

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune inflammatory disease. Although RA develops its central pathology within the synovium of diarthrodial joints, many non-articular organs can be involved, particularly in patients with severe joint disease.1 Although most patients are asymptomatic, cardiac involvement is relatively common and includes rheumatic heart nodules, pericarditis (30–50%), pericardial effusion and…

New Options for Treatment-Resistant RA

Carina Stanton | October 14, 2019

Two JAK inhibitors, one recently approved by the FDA, have shown improvements in patients with active RA for whom other therapies have proved ineffective…

Probing the Role of Genes & Microbiome in Ankylosing Spondylitis & RA

Lara C. Pullen, PhD | September 17, 2019

Researchers know human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules affect susceptibility to disease in general, and immunological disease in particular. In the case of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), the risk is primarily associated with HLA-B27, with smaller effects from other HLA alleles. Current thinking is that AS is caused by the presence of a genetically primed host because…