SAN FRANCISCO—The Kveim-Siltzbach skin test for a diagnosis of sarcoidosis was developed in 1941, then popularized in 1961. Since then, the knowledge base about the disease has not expanded much, said Kristin Highland, MD, who has dual appointments at Cleveland Clinic’s Respiratory Institute and Orthopedics and Rheumatology Institute. “We don’t know a whole lot more…
(Reuters Health)—Patients give the same doctors different ratings depending on where their visit took place, according to a small U.S. study. Although doctors might act differently in an emergency department compared with a calmer office setting, researchers say the results also suggest that ratings are not a completely reliable measure of the quality of care…
Multiple studies have linked post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to an increased risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), specifically in men. Using data from a 22-year cohort study, researchers were able to analyze the association between PTSD and the risk of RA in women. This large study builds on and expands previous findings by exploring whether the effects of PTSD differ for RA subtypes. As a secondary objective, researchers also examined smoking as a behavioral confounder and/or mediator in the relationship between PTSD and risk for RA…
One of your first clinical assignments as a medical student was likely to have been the lung exam. Its key descriptors may still resonate in your mind: inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation. Proudly parading down the hospital corridors, your newly purchased stethoscope snugly tucked inside your lab coat pocket, you carefully place its cold metal…
SAN FRANCISCO—By harnessing the power of next generation sequencing strategies and combining them with clever statistical strategies and tools, investigators are striving to define causal pathways of and mechanisms underlying complex diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, according to Soumya Raychaudhuri, MD, PhD, associate professor, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, during a session…
A 47-year-old Caucasian woman presented to the rheumatology clinic with a one-year history of pain and swelling involving the wrists, hands, ankles and feet that progressively worsened. Her symptoms included generalized fatigue, morning stiffness in the hands and lower back lasting more than an hour, Raynaud’s phenomena (triphasic), photosensitivity, tightening of the skin of the…
When rheumatoid arthritis (RA) left Stefanie Gluckman fighting chronic pain and relegated to a wheelchair, she turned to Lori Rubenstein Fazzio, DPT, PT, MAppSc, YTRX, of Mosaic Physical Therapy in Los Angeles, for relief. Dr. Rubenstein Fazzio knows what it’s like to suffer from excruciating pain. After sustaining career-threatening injuries in a horseback accident in…
SAN FRANCISCO—Metabolomics could one day be a treasure map of information about inflammation in rheumatic disease. There are many metabolic pathways to pursue for clues on how to reverse this damaging process. “All of these signaling pathways are interrelated and affect each other,” said Douglas J. Veale, MD, director of translational research at Dublin Academic…
Patient portals are online programs and applications that help patients and physicians interact. Although there are many different implementations, most will have some sort of messaging component to help with communication between the doctor and the patient, as well as access to at least some elements of the chart, such as test results. “Patients should…
Enthesitis is a central feature of spondyloarthritis (SpA). This review article summarizes the substantial progress that has been made in addressing the pathophysiology, molecular mechanisms, genetic associations, clinical features, diagnostic modalities and treatment of enthesitis. Further examination into the role of the inflammatory mediators, including IL-17, IL-22, and IL-23 as well as potentially others, in driving enthesitis and bone formation will be important to direct our attention toward future therapeutic targeted pathways in patients with SpA…