Rheumatology

Objectives for this presentation included identifying biologic agents in the use of RA; discussing the role of TNF inhibitors in rheumatoid arthritis; describing the role of B-cells in rheumatoid arthritis; and discussing what advances need to happen in order to better treat this condition.

The ACR's "Within Our Reach: Finding a Cure for Rheumatoid Arthritis" campaign has funded research that identified a highly-specific marker of RA, helps predict response to anti-TNF therapy, and improving doctor-patient communication.

The 2009 American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals Scientific Meeting will feature several “Curbside Consult/Ask the Professors” sessions. Designed to feature information and discussion about “difficult management decisions that must be made in the absence of strong data,” these sessions give attendees the opportunity to “compare their personal management approaches” to the clinical problems outlined in the featured vignettes and scenarios with those of “the academic expert consultants and other clinicians in the audience.”

A new study finds that pindolol is highly effective for the treatment of fibromyalgia symptoms manifesting themselves through the autonomic nervous system.

The Monday morning sessions at the 2009 American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals featured several presentations that focused on cognitive functioning in fibromyalgia and lupus.

Researchers examining senior-identified arthritis management strategies were able to identify the most helpful treatment methods as well as the biggest challenges preventing most seniors from engaging in these practices.

Here we recap some of the highlights of today's poster session with a focus on rheumatoid arthritis.

Considering that increasing prevalence of arthritis is expected to outpace the number of specialists available to treat the condition, primary care physicians would do well to consider the experiences and advice of leaders of national Canadian arthritis study groups.

Fibromyalgia is a complex illness, especially when there are some healthcare professionals who do not consider it to be an illness. However, there is a high prevalence of fibromyalgia (3-4.7% of the general population) and patients who have it experience poor quality of life and place a high economic burden on themselves, their families, and society.

The most important risk factors for serious infections were not biologic medications, as some might have expected, but instead were age, medical conditions such as emphysema, and RA-specific factors like disease duration.

Despite findings from other studies indicating that somnolence is a sometimes significant adverse effect in pregabalin use, this study suggests that it is statistically insignificant.

An international research team believes that its cluster analysis tool can be used to identify effective treatment modalities for a host of maladies using numerous different therapies.

All sensory areas were activated in the brains of fibromyalgia sufferers during pain stimuli according to brain scans made by University of Michigan researchers. Healthy controls showed littled to no activity.

RA patients identified through the Department of Veteran Affairs national administrative databases that were on anti-TNF therapy had a higher risk of developing non-melanoma skin cancer than those on non-biologic DMARDs.

Rheumatoid arthritis patients are experiencing less coronary heart disease than in years past, but heart failure rates, however, remain unchanged, puzzling researchers.

Avril Fitzgerald from University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, discussed the results from her study and how the primary care physicians and rheumatologists are perceiving the new scoring method.

During his keynote address, MDNG editorial board member Danny Sands really stressed the importance of empowering patients to learn about their health. "We need to make sure patients have access to knowledge," he said.

Though researchers continue to investigate exactly why, data indicates RA increases an individual's risk of lower GI bleeding or perforation, diverticulitis, lower GI ulcers, and appendicitis.

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterized by widespread chronic pain and tenderness. Persons with FMS are a diverse population, with widely variable symptom presentation and severity, as well as secondary symptoms. Because the symptoms are so diverse, diagnosis and management become challenging. Mounting evidence supports altered CNS processing of nociceptive stimuli as a mechanism.

The impetus for Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children’s switch to a centralized system came about because the hospital administrators wanted patients communicating with live people. An admirable goal for sure, but with only two live people available to take calls at anyone time, patients often ended up spending 15 minutes on hold waiting for a human voice, becoming frustrated and hanging up.

Initial use of methotrexate combined with sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine better controls rheumatoid arthritis at six months.

Prior studies of glucosamine and its role in the prevention of joint damage in knee OA have produced conflicting results, but a recent study found that the odds of worsening cartilage damage in a glucosamine group were the same as for patients given a placebo.

Despite being considered and at-risk group due to disease- and drug-induced immunosuppression, only one of two arthritic adults will receive a flu vaccination, according to a recent phone study.

Anti tumor necrosis factor therapy for rheumatoid arthritis appears to increase a patient's risk of developing septic arthritis, which is the infection of a joint, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

In a session that focused on potential adverse reactions to rheumatologic infusion therapies, Jacqueline M. Fritz, RN, MSN, CNS, Arthritis and Osteoporosis, La Palma, California, explained that infusion therapies take time to administer.

As the population ages and persons live longer with more medical comorbidities, the incidences of both gout and pseudogout will continue to increase. Uric acid metabolism is crucial to the pathogenesis of gout. Patients who have the arthritis associated with crystal-deposition disease typically present clinically with acute attacks of joint pain, swelling, and erythema and have asymptomatic periods between acute attacks.