Vasculitis and Giant Cell Arteritis News

CLEVELAND — Patients with rosacea, livedoid vasculopathy and allergic contact dermatitis present with a multitude of dermatologic symptoms that rheumatologists can easily misdiagnose as rheumatic diseases, according to Anthony Fernandez, MD, PhD, of the Cleveland Clinic.

Relapse in giant cell arteritis occurs in 47.2% of patients treated with only glucocorticoids, a rate that is likely due to the short duration of glucocorticoid regimens rather than the size of the initial induction dose, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

DESTIN, Fla. — Behçet's syndrome — which is classified as a vasculitis — is marked by distinct features that differentiate it from other autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, according to Yusuf Yazici, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine and director of the Behçet's Syndrome Center, New York University School of Medicine.

DESTIN, Fla. — Sepsis and pneumonia are among the leading causes of 30- and 90-day hospital readmission among patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis, possibly due to immunosuppressive treatment regimens, according to data presented at the North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.

DESTIN, Fla. — Despite its common association with autoimmune diseases, just 17% of patients with uveitis are evaluated for, or diagnosed with, a systemic autoimmune disease when receiving ophthalmology care, according to a presenter at the 2019 North American Young Rheumatology Investigator Forum.

More than 620 registered attendees from 45 states and 11 countries are traveling to Destin, Florida, this week for the 2019 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology, scheduled for May 2 to 5, according to David McLain, MD, FACP, FACR, where they will learn about a wide range of topics from speakers they may not hear anywhere else.

Sexual dysfunction is highly prevalent among men and women with inflammatory arthritis, with diseases-related factors impacting fluctuations in sexual function and reduced sexual desire, according to data published in Arthritis Care & Research.

Simple logic would dictate that naming a disease after a physician with confirmed Nazi associations would be met with resistance in the medical community. But when that disease was named before it was known that the clinician was part of the Sturmabteilung, or SA, the issue becomes somewhat more complicated. Such is the case with granulomatosis with polyangiitis, previously known as Wegener’s granulomatosis, initially named after German physician Friedrich Wegener.

CHICAGO — Rheumatologists should make greater efforts to collaborate with ophthalmologists to better care for patients with inflammatory and systemic eye diseases such as uveitis and scleritis, according to Jim T. Rosenbaum, MD, chief of the division of arthritis and rheumatic diseases at Oregon Health & Science University.

CHICAGO — The emergence of interleukin-5 inhibitors and omalizumab as potential treatments for eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis could mean a breakthrough for a patient population that is rarely included in large randomized clinical trials, and has had to make do with prednisone and cyclophosphamide as a first-line treatment, according to a presenter at the 2019 Interdisciplinary Autoimmune Summit.