Rheumatology
Clinical discussions on autoimmune diseases, biologic therapies, vasculitis, and musculoskeletal conditions.
Recent Discussions
What is the most impactful career advice you have received from a colleague or mentor?
Whenever you take care of a patient, treat that patient like they are the most important person in the world in that moment, and let them know it by your words and actions.
How do you approach prescribing analgesics for osteoarthritis related pain in patients with comorbidities, particularly given new evidence that even acetaminophen is associated with increased risk of GI complications (bleeding, peptic ulcer disease), heart failure and CKD?
Acetaminophen is still preferred, but at 3,000 mg or less per day. The next consideration is a COX-2 specific inhibitor, such as celebrex. Narcotics and steroids play no role in management of osteoarthritis.
Can lupus anticoagulant be positive despite a normal aPTT?
aPTT is one of the assays that may be abnormal in the presence of lupus anticoagulant, but not always. Usually, when screening for lupus anticoagulant, there will be a "special" aPTT assay used that is a bit more sensitive to detect lupus anticoagulant. There are several different aPTT-based assays ...
Should HCQ be continued in an asymptomatic SLE patient who has received renal transplant?
As far as I know there is not a definitive answer to this question due to a lack of clinical trials. My approach is to continue it at a dose adjusted for renal failure. My thought process is that both lupus and chronic renal failure increase the risk of cardiovascular events significantly. Plaquenil...
Do you prefer using losartan in your patients with hypertension and gout due to its uricosuric effects?
I do find losartan helpful. It is especially helpful asking a PCP to change HCTZ to losartan. Though the losartan's urate-lowering effect is a small amount, I combine this with dietary changes (especially greatly limiting the intake of foods high in fructose) and eating purines in moderation, and e...
Do you still consider the use of pegloticase in someone with substantial tophaceous burden despite optimal uric acid levels?
If a patient has a significant burden of tophaceous deposits causing functional impairment despite serum uric acid control achieved through oral uric acid lowering therapy (ULT), I strongly recommend considering a course of enzymatic therapy with pegloticase. Terms such as “treatment failure gout” o...
What is your approach to dental prophylaxis for patients on biologics?
My approach has been to not recommend antibiotics prior to routine dental care for patients on biologic therapy. I'm not aware of any compelling evidence or guidelines supporting preventive antibiotic treatment for such patients. Of course, there may be exceptions to this. Antibiotic prophylaxis mig...
How do you approach management in patients with adult-onset Still’s disease presenting with active polyarthritis (without macrophage activation syndrome) who remain symptomatic despite prednisone 15 mg/day and methotrexate 25 mg/week?
Biologics, especially IL-1 but also IL-6 blockers, have been shown to be beneficial for patients with Still's disease. In fact, there seems to be a window of opportunity whereby patients that are started early on cytokine blockade are more likely to achieve drug-free remission in the future. Anakinr...
Would you check ANCA titers in a patient with a history of PR-3-ANCA glomerulonephritis in remission and a stable creatinine but with recurrent microscopic hematuria?
Not sure there is an easy answer to this. A patient in remission should not get a recurrence of glomerular hematuria unless the disease is active. A new onset glomerular hematuria would certainly make me worried about a relapse, some of which may be subtle, indicating "grumbling disease". The data o...
Do you routinely perform muscle biopsies in patients presenting with the classic symptoms of Inclusion Body Myositis along with positive CN1A antibody?
YES. There are new consensus guidelines from ENMC about the diagnosis of IBM (Lilleker et al., PMID 38522330). They define the clinical presentation of IBM as typical (age >45, progression over >12 months, long finger flexor weakness > deltoid weakness, quadriceps weakness > hip flexors), or atypica...