Most Sunday mornings, I make myself an exceptional cup of pour-over coffee and sit down on my deck with the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. I check out the image of the week. I read the case report with pen in hand, racing to diagnose the patient before the authors spill…
A recent editorial provides new insights by reexamining the definitions of remission for rheumatoid arthritis and outlining concerns with the use of specific metrics for remission in clinical trials.
Furuta et al. evaluated the benefits of reducing glucocorticoid doses during remission induction for patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis. The researchers found a reduced-dose-glucocorticoid-plus-rituximab regimen was noninferior to a regimen of high-dose glucocorticoids plus rituximab in these patients.
In a small study, patients with GCA maintained remission after receiving three days of treatment with methylprednisolone followed by tocilizumab.
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Long-term rituximab use lowers the chance of relapse of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis (AAV), compared with standard maintenance therapy, according to a report from the MAINRITSAN3 randomized trial. “Physicians should consider AAV to be a long-lasting, chronic disease which requires maintenance therapy,” says Dr. Pierre Charles of Cochin Hospital, Paris…
Patients with axial spondyloarthritis have a chronic, immune-mediated inflammatory disease that tends to localize to the sacroiliac joints and spine. Ankylosing spondylitis is, perhaps, the most representative of this group of diseases. Rheumatologists treat patients with axial spondyloarthritis with biologics, such as tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi’s), which can improve quality of life, activity and…
MADRID—During the 2019 European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR), held June 12–15, speakers addressed the complexity of vasculitis in a Challenges in Clinical Practice session titled, How to Maintain Remission in Vasculitis. Although vasculitis appears in many varieties, one commonality exists among these related yet distinct conditions: When there is vital organ or systemic involvement, disease…
MADRID—During the 2019 European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR), held June 12–15, speakers addressed the complexity of vasculitis in a Challenges in Clinical Practice session titled, How to Maintain Remission in Vasculitis. Although vasculitis appears in many varieties, one commonality exists among these related yet distinct conditions: When there is vital organ or systemic involvement, disease…
In an international clinical trial, adding the drug belimumab to standard maintenance therapy for patients in remission with vasculitis did not lower the relapse rate. The double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluated the safety and efficacy of belimumab as adjunctive therapy to maintain remission in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) associated vasculitis (AAV). Results of the multi-center, industry-sponsored…
CHICAGO—With an ever-strengthening foundation beneath the pathophysiology and prediction of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the field may soon focus more intently on prevention, an expert said at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The session also covered the latest in remission targets and therapy de-escalation. RA Prevention Kevin Deane, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine and principal…