Scleroderma News

SAN DIEGO — Early screening and early diagnosis are critical to managing systemic sclerosis, according to a presentation at the 2019 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology West.

By the time Lilly Stairs was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis at the age of 19 — following an arduous series of tests and doctor visits — she had already been living with an autoimmune disease for 12 years.

Patient-reported symptoms are associated with clinically impactful changes in systemic sclerosis disease activity, according to findings published in Arthritis Care & Research.

The FDA has approved nintedanib capsules to slow the rate of decline in pulmonary function in adults with interstitial lung disease associated with systemic sclerosis or scleroderma, according to a press release.

ORLANDO — Rheumatology nurses are necessary for helping to care for “the whole patient” with scleroderma, including its various manifestations and impacts on the patients’ social, mental, personal and physical health, according to Benjamin D. Korman, MD, of the University of Rochester.

The FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee voted 10-7 to recommend approval of nintedanib for treatment of systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease.

An analysis of a large German registry found that 37% of patients with systemic sclerosis receive physical therapy, according to recent findings in Arthritis Care & Research.

Political activism is more accessible than ever thanks to the amplification offered by social media, and rheumatologists can use social media — particularly Twitter — to advocate for the profession and their patients, according to Angus Worthing, MD, private practice rheumatologist and chair of the Government Affairs Committee for the American College of Rheumatology.

In the ever-changing landscape of the United States health care system, rheumatologists need a voice. They need a voice in managing the complex web of drug pricing structures, a voice in developing clinical guidelines, and, on a fundamental level, a voice in simply communicating with all the players involved in running the day-to-day operations of a rheumatology practice.

CLEVELAND — Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which has recently emerged as a potentially effective option for select patients, likely represents the future of treating progressive diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, according to Soumya Chatterjee, MD, from the Cleveland Clinic.