News

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is one of the pain conditions that has remained fairly mysterious, but a new, effective treatment may be on the horizon. It is known that CRPS most often develops following trauma, however, and evidence suggests a maladaptive response to nervous system damage involving immune and inflammatory pathways as well as abnormalities in both peripheral and central processing of afferent inputs. No single therapy – including pharmacologic therapy – wholly addresses the condition.

Patients with tophaceous gout rarely develop ulcers, but when they do occur, these ulcers can be difficult to treat. This case study explores the diagnosis of and treatment options for patients with ulcerated tophaceous gout.

Up to one-third of people with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) have some degree of bone loss due to systemic inflammation and decreased mobility, but lowering inflammation with tumor necrosis factor blockers may improve bone density.

Aerobic exercise benefits rheumatoid arthritis patients

Cardiorespiratory fitness is low among patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Improving fitness improves risks for cardiovascular disease and coupled with combination therapy, may lower disease activity as well as foster increased physical activity, recent studies show.

Psoriasis

Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis have long been associated with cardiovascular disease and deaths, but now a large population study from Taiwan indicates the danger of cardiac arrhythmias is increased independently of traditional risk factors such as coronary disease and high blood pressure.

Study shows that adalimumab led to sustained clinical and functional responses in nearly one-third of treatment-refractory patients who completed 10 years of treatment. Patients with shorter disease duration achieved better outcomes, highlighting the need for early treatment.

Plaque psoriasis. (Tanya Munger, MSN and Robert Bales, MD, MPH)

Guselkumab, a selective antagonist of IL-23, went head to head with adalimumab in a year-long phase 2 trial of 293 patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. A quick synopsis of the results here.

Heliotrope rash in dermatomyositis

Hard, mobile, painless subcutaneous nodules developed in this woman who had had dermatomyositis for 20 years. The calcifications progressed during treatment with infliximab.

It may not be a surprise that having more gout flares in a year is more costly, but a recent study has quantified just how much more expensive they are.

Allopurinol's overall impact on the risk of mortality has been studied but is not yet well-understood. Now, a study has shown that the benefits from this treatment likely outweigh the risk of serious side effects.

Gout attacks really do occur more often at night, and here is proof. Theories abound as to why, but effective prophylactic treatments to reduce the risk of nocturnal exacerbations appear to be just what the doctor ordered.

Jaccoud’s Arthropathy

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Hand deformities seen in Jaccoud's arthropathy are the result of soft-tissue abnormalities, not the destruction of bone joints seen in rheumatoid arthritis.