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

Other Rheumatic Conditions

Case Report: Sarcoidosis in Patient with History of IgG4-Related Disease

Veronica Matto, DO, Rajshri Shah, MD, Jie Ouyang, MD, PhD, Cory Perugino, DO, & Joseph J. LaConti, MD, PhD  |  

Sarcoidosis and IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) are both immune-mediated, often multi-organ, diseases of uncertain etiology capable of presenting with diverse clinical manifestations. Many clinical features are common to both conditions, including hypergammaglobulinemia, the ability to form inflammatory masses and involvement of the lymph nodes, lacrimal glands, salivary glands, meninges and lungs. Although imaging modalities, such as…

Rituximab Seems Safe & Effective for Systemic Sclerosis

Marilynn Larkin  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Rituximab seemed to be a safe and effective treatment for systemic sclerosis (SSc) in a placebo-controlled validation trial in Japan.1 “A number of studies have examined B-cell depletion therapy for systemic sclerosis, and many of them have suggested that [this] is effective in treating systemic sclerosis,” Ayumi Yoshizaki, MD, tells Reuters Health…

Case Report: Saddle Nose Deformity in IgG4-Related Disease

Alyxandra Soloway, MD, & Stephen Soloway, MD, FACP, FACR  |  

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-related disease) is relatively rare, although with greater recognition it is becoming more frequently diagnosed. Some of the more common presentations of the disease include aortitis, cholangitis, autoimmune pancreatitis, sclerosing sialadenitis, orbital disease with proptosis and subacute mass development in the affected organ.1 It has protean manifestations and is diagnosed by classic…

How to Improve Oral & Eye Health in Sjögren’s Patients

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ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—Sjögren’s syndrome requires care from several specialists, and presenters at the Sjögren’s Syndrome: Dental and Ocular Perspectives session shared diagnostic and treatment pearls from their respective specialties.  Rebecca Manno, MD, MHS, of the Comprehensive Arthritis and Rheumatology Center of the U.S. Virgin Islands moderated the session.  Oral Health Dry mouth is famously associated…

Case Report: A Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Infection

Bradley Bohman, MD, & Jawad Bilal, MBBS  |  

Tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitors (TNFi’s) have emerged as an integral part of therapeutic strategies for several rheumatic diseases. TNF-α is a pro-inflammatory cytokine implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), seronegative spondyloarthropathies and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It also plays a central role in the immune response to mycobacterial infection.  Many biologic agents, particularly…

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VEXAS: A Newly Identified & Vexing Myeloid-Driven Inflammation

Bryn Nelson, PhD  |  

A large, international team of rheumatologists, geneticists, hematologists and other researchers has discovered a severe inflammatory syndrome linked to an acquired genetic mutation in the bone marrow of older men. The X-linked syndrome, they found, is caused by a somatic mutation in myeloid stem cells that hobbles the master regulator of a pathway tasked with…