Ankylosing Spondylitis

Long-term clinically significant and sustained improvements were seen with ixekizumab treatment in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, according to a study reported at the American Academy of Dermatology virtual meeting.

The FDA has expanded the approval of secukinumab to include treatment of active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis, allowing this drug to treat patients across the entire axSpA spectrum.

Treatment with bimekizumab over 48 weeks resulted in rapid, sustained improvements in patient-reported outcomes, sleep and quality of life among those with ankylosing spondylitis, according to data presented at the EULAR 2020 E-Congress.

The FDA has expanded the approval of ixekizumab injection 80 mg/mL to include treatment of active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis in patients with objective signs of inflammation.

As a general rule, rheumatologists are comfortable with ambiguous diagnoses, given that so many of the conditions they manage are marked by a wide spectrum of presentations and manifestations. A prime example is axial spondyloarthritis, which is divided into two categories: radiographic axial spondyloarthritis — also called ankylosing spondylitis — and nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis. Discussion surrounding the nonradiographic form of this disease has been known to prompt the almost preposterous fundamental question: Is it even a thing?

Baseline use of biologics and JAK inhibitors among patients with immune-mediated inflammatory disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis and other related conditions, is not associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes, according to a case series presented in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Patients with both chronic inflammatory disease and inflammatory bowel disease demonstrated higher health use and costs, compared with those with just chronic inflammatory disease, according to data published in BMC Rheumatology.

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai developed an artificial intelligence model that can scan physicians’ notes and distinguish between acute and chronic lower back pain, according to findings published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Treatment with TNF inhibitors are associated with an increased — albeit still low — risk for neuroinflammatory disease in patients with ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, but not rheumatoid arthritis, according to data published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

TNF-inhibitor switching is rare, and delayed by nearly a full year, among patients with ankylosing spondylitis despite a common lack of efficacy, according to data published in BMC Rheumatology.