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

Vasculitis

Draft Criteria for ANCA-Associated Vasculitis Released

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Rheumatologists do not have up-to-date diagnostic and classification criteria for vasculitis, a group of diseases that involves inflammation of the blood vessels, said experts speaking at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting session, Classification Criteria for ANCA-Associated Vasculitis. The most recent classification criteria were published by the ACR in 1990, and since then, new disease…

Research Offers Insight into Diagnosis, Treatment of Small-Vessel Vasculitis

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Experts speaking at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting session, Update on Small-Vessel Vasculitis, offered insight into the latest approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases involving the inflammation of blood vessels. “Vasculitis is an immune-mediated process. White blood cells invade the vessel wall, causing inflammation throughout the vessel wall,” said Jason M. Springer,…

Intraocular Vancomycin Associated with Hemorrhagic Occlusive Retinal Vasculitis

Lorraine L. Janeczko  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Intraocular vancomycin may lead to potentially blinding hemorrhagic occlusive retinal vasculitis (HORV), a new study suggests. “The importance of this study was to present in a number of patients overwhelming evidence that rarely, intraocular vancomycin is associated with sight-threatening retinal vascular occlusion,” says lead author Dr. Andre J. Witkin of Tufts Medical…

Potential New Maintenance Therapies for Vasculitides Revealed

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—New insights into maintenance therapy for patients with vasculitides were covered by several speakers at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting abstract session titled, Vasculitis I: Novel Approaches to Therapy. Expert Hubert de Boysson, MD, MSc, of the Internal Medicine Department at Caen University Hospital in France, led discussion on new therapies for patients with…

Tips for Diagnosing, Treating Seldom Seen Forms of Vasculitis

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—The vast majority of the attention given to vasculitis at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, year after year, focuses on ANCA-associated vasculitis and large-vessel vasculitis, said Philip Seo, MD, MHS, director of the Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center and moderator of the 2016 ACR Review Course titled, Neglected Vasculitis. That leaves out a lot. “These are…

How to Manage Patients with Giant Cell Arteritis and Polymyalgia Rheumatica

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—From diagnosis questions to infection risk to treatment decisions, handling giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) comes with a range of challenges for clinicians. Speaking in the ACR Review Course at the 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, an expert—Rebecca Manno, MD, MHS, assistant professor of medicine in rheumatology at Johns Hopkins, as well…

Malignancy Risk in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis Is Lower with Rituximab

Marilynn Larkin  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Compared with cyclophosphamide, rituximab treatment poses less malignancy risk in patients with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV), European researchers report. Dr. Emma E. van Daalen of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands tells Reuters Health, “Previous studies reported an increased malignancy risk in patients with AAV, which has been associated…

New Large-Vessel Vasculitis Therapies Emerge, but Better Options Still Needed

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LONDON—New therapies are emerging for the two main forms of large-vessel vasculitis, giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu’s arteritis—particularly biologic therapies. But for just about every available treatment gap, drawbacks or limited evidence remain, with the results needing to be borne out in larger trials, an expert said at the Annual Congress of the European…