Focus Rheums| Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde? (video)

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

Search results for: rituximab

Rheumatologist Steven S. Overman Reflects on His Last Day of Practice, Future of Specialty

Steven S. Overman, MD, MPH • illustrations by Alice C. Gray  |  

I am a few weeks post-retirement. Having written thank you notes and completed urgent home projects, I swing in a hammock at our currently fire-threatened cabin north of Winthrop, Wash., and reflect. I feel like a young boy while freely flipping pages of a hand-scribed picture book, The Principles of Uncertainty, by Maira Kalman. She…

Case Report: Interstitial Lung Disease with Positive ANCA Test

Sara Tedeschi, MD  |  

“Worst of all is the pain in my calves,” she said. “It feels like burning deep inside.” So began my first encounter with a 69-year-old woman who was referred to rheumatology clinic for evaluation of two months of constitutional symptoms and a positive ANCA test, which had been ordered by her primary care doctor. Her…

Immunotherapy May Be Effective for Some Patients with Autoimmune Cerebellar Ataxia

Will Boggs, MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Immunotherapy appears to yield neurological improvements in some patients with autoimmune cerebellar ataxia, especially those with nonparaneoplastic disorders, researchers report. “I was surprised that so many patients responded to immunotherapy (steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), and plasma exchange) and remained ambulatory,” Dr. Andrew McKeon from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., told Reuters Health…

Figure 1: Hematoxylin & Eosin Staining

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Without Kidney Involvement: A Case Report

Paul Hoover, MD, PhD, & Lindsey MacFarlane, MD  |  

A 35-year-old female with a history of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without kidney involvement was admitted to our hospital with low-grade fevers, headache, increasing lower extremity edema and elevated blood pressure. History She was first diagnosed with SLE as a teenager when she developed oral ulcers and pleuritic chest pain and tested positive for anti-Smith…

EULAR 2015: Biology of Fatigue Rooted in Genes, Cytokines, Free Radicals

  |  

ROME, Italy—Fatigue, a problem experienced frequently by patients with rheumatic diseases, is best thought of as a survival mechanism and as a single phenomenon, not a condition that comes in a variety of forms, an expert said in a session at EULAR 2015, the annual congress of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). Gene Regulated…

Catastrophic Antiphospholipid Syndrome with Pulmonary Hemorrhage: A Case Report

Joy-Ann Tabanor, MD, Hyun Bae, MD, Girish Sonpal, MD, & Karlene Williams, MD  |  

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune condition characterized by hypercoagulability often manifested as recurrent thrombosis or pregnancy complications, with persistently circulating antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies or lupus anticoagulant. Catastrophic APS (CAPS), also known as Asherson syndrome, occurs in less than 1% of cases of APS and involves occlusive microangiopathy in at least three organ systems.1 Case…

The ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium: Patients with Scleroderma, Lung Disease May Benefit from Aggressive Therapy

  |  

CHICAGO—Scleroderma patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) might benefit from more aggressive therapy, an expert in the field said in a session on lung involvement in rheumatic diseases at the American College of Rheumatology’s 2015 State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium in May. Newer trials—the SERAPHIN trial on macitentan, GRIPHON on selexipag, and AMBITION on an ambrisentan/tadalafil combination—show…

The ACR’s State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium: Rheumatologists Weigh in on Tough-to-Treat Cases, Paget’s Disease, Imaging

  |  

CHICAGO—A 49-year-old woman has had RA for eight years. She has a rheumatoid factor reading of 35, an aCCP reading of 160, erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 42, plus erosions. She has been on methotrexate. She tried etanercept for six months, but then it stopped working. She was on 40 mg of adalimumab weekly, but it…