Vasculitis and Giant Cell Arteritis News

ATLANTA — Treatment with repeat doses of rituximab is superior to daily azathioprine for preventing relapse among patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis with a history of relapse, according to data presented at the 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting.

Rheumatology patients treated with interleukin inhibitors have an increased risk for serious infections, opportunistic infections and cancer, according to data published in JAMA Open Network.

SAN DIEGO — Although fading from use in vasculitis management strategies, cyclophosphamide still offers several benefits for a minority of patients who are unable to switch to other therapies, according to a presenter at the 2019 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology West.

SAN DIEGO — Rheumatologists should exercise caution when diagnosing patients with suspected vasculitis as several lesser-known diseases can affect the large and medium-sized arteries imitating vasculitis, according to a presenter at the 2019 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology West.

The FDA announced the approval of Rituxan injection to treat granulomatosis with polyangiitis and microscopic polyangiitis in children 2 years and older in combination with glucocorticosteroids.

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.

Newly diagnosed patients with ankylosing spondylitis in Taiwan demonstrate increased risks for multiple immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, including acute anterior uveitis, psoriasis, thromboangiitis obliterans, Behcet’s disease and sarcoidosis, according to findings published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Contrary to widespread belief that biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis is comparatively rare among black patients, researchers found the condition occurs at a similar rate among black and white patients, according to data published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Historians attribute Philip II of Macedon — father of Alexander the Great — as the source of the motto and political principle known as “divide and conquer.” As a ruling technique, the maxim worked, with Phillip ultimately ruling over most of classical Greece; a success that would be repeated with Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte in the centuries to follow.

A maternal age of 32 years or older is significantly associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including the formation of coronary artery lesions, and in cases of a maternal age of 35 years of older, IV immunoglobulin resistance, among offspring with Kawasaki disease, according to data published in Pediatric Rheumatology.