Depending on stage, severity and rate of progression of disease, systemic corticosteroids are commonly used to treat pulmonary sarcoidosis. However, a review of the literature suggests they have limited usefulness in advanced stage IV pulmonary sarcoidosis. Once sarcoidosis has advanced to this degree, steroid use may unnecessarily expose a patient to life-threatening complications, as demonstrated…
Oral health is not frequently considered within the sphere of a rheumatologist’s practice. However, recent results published by the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group (CSRG) point out the importance of assessing oral health in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Result of 3-Year Grant Between 2008 and 2011, 163 patients with SSc and 231 controls were entered…
In 1969, Martha Lovato passed away from renal failure due to complications of lupus. Martha was 18 years old and survived only two years following her diagnosis. At the time, Martha’s disease was still a mystery to many physicians and researchers. Her treatment options were limited. In fall 2004, after an unprecedented battle with shingles…
Advancing the understanding of autoimmune diseases has implications for precision medicine, according to Robert Carter, MD, of the NIH. Research funded through the NIH’s Accelerating Medicines Partnership has the potential to develop better biomarkers and clinical trials for lupus and RA, paving the way for more personalized treatment…
Since 1999, 60 rheumatologists have received the Clinician Scholar Educator Award from the Rheumatology Research Foundation. These clinician educators have benefitted professionally from the award and have also dedicated themselves to the advancement of education. Most spend at least 30% of their time engaged in education, and awardees provide curriculum widely used in rheumatology fellowship programs…
Obesity has an established systemic inflammatory component. Could that be a trigger for the inflammation seen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other rheumatic diseases? Although there is no direct scientific evidence, both mechanistic and epidemiologic clues do give some intriguing suggestions of a possible link. “At first, we thought that fat was involved only in…
Established wisdom holds that patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) will fare better if their disease is diagnosed as early as possible, and treatments with disease-modifying drugs are started before inflammation can do more damage to joints and tissue. Usually, early diagnosis means spotting the clinical signs of disease, but new research tells us more about…
Scleroderma, or systemic sclerosis (SSc), is an autoimmune disease characterized by vasculopathy and fibrosis. Although relatively rare, with a prevalence in North America of approximately 300 per 1 million people, SSc is associated with significant morbidity and high rates of mortality.1 Patients with scleroderma have four times greater mortality than age- and sex-matched controls, with…
From its beginnings as the Rheumatic Diseases Study Group (RDSG) in the early 1930s, NYU Langone Medical Center’s Division of Rheumatology has been built on a tradition of research and clinical care. Today’s division, with 24 full-time and 76 part-time faculty members, continues to push toward understanding the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases and interventions to…
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…