Polymyositis News

SAN DIEGO — At the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting, Victoria P. Werth, MD, spoke about a study that evaluated the safety and efficacy of anabasum (JBT-101, Corbus Pharmaceuticals) in patients with dermatomyositis. She said patients treated with anabasum saw significant improvements for measures of skin disease activity.

Patients with clinically managed cutaneous dermatomyositis did not often enter remission even after aggressive treatment, according to recent findings.

Nonwhite patients appear to have higher rates of admission, increased length of stay and higher cost of care associated with a diagnosis of dermatomyositis, according to findings.

Patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy had an increased risk for mortality, according to a recently published study that used data from Sweden.

YKL-40 could serve as a biomarker for patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis-associated interstitial lung disease, according to a recently published study.

Patients with dermatomyositis and anti-NXP-2 antibodies had a severe systemic phenotype, which included myalgia, peripheral edema and significant dysphagia, according to recently published data.

Baseline shoulder ultrasonography was not predictive of glucocorticoid response in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica after 12 months, according to results of a recently published study.

Based on a cohort in Minnesota from 1985 through 2014, researchers found the yearly occurrence of mixed connective tissue disease to be two people per 100,000.

Researchers from the University of Toronto developed a new questionnaire to more accurately screen for rheumatic disease in the outpatient setting.

The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance developed the following three treatment plans for patients with juvenile dermatomyositis and persistent skin rash: intravenous immunoglobulin; mycophenolate mofetil; and cyclosporine.