Current Rheumatology Reviews - Volume 9, Issue 2, 2013

The catastrophic variant of the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is the most severe and acute form of APS with multiorgan involvement. Patients with this condition have the following features in common: a) clinical evidence of multiple organ involvement developed over a very short time period; b) histopathological evidence of multiple small vessel occlusions, and c) laboratory confirmation of the presence of antiphospholi Read More

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is the quintessential complex, multifactorial systemic autoimmune disease. In particular, it is highly polygenic in origin in both humans and animal models. Mouse models of lupus help uncover the genetic and cellular etiologies of the disease, which often implicate homeostatic imbalances in specific cell types and pathways. This review compiles and explores the contributions of specific ge Read More

The increased mortality rate for cardiovascular (CV) diseases in rheumatoid arthritis RA) patients has been mainly attributed to an increased prevalence of some classical CV risk factors in these patients. Nonetheless, the potential role of chronic inflammation itself as an independent CV risk factor has been recently emphasized. Indeed, different basic alterations present in RA may anticipate and/or accelerate the atheros Read More

Interstitial lung disease is a common manifestation in systemic sclerosis and is considered as one of the two main causes of death among these patients. Although the pathogenesis of interstitial lung disease related to systemic sclerosis (SSc-ILD) is very complex and not yet fully understood, diverse mechanisms such as vascular injury, altered immunological response and inflammatory activation have been proposed. Vascula Read More

Thumb carpometacarpal (CMC) joint arthritis is a common and debilitating condition. The mainstay of treatment is conservative management. Surgery is only indicated following failure of a prolonged and comprehensive trial of nonoperative treatment. Once surgery has been designated, an array of surgical alternatives exist, all of which provide specific benefits and disadvantages. The different surgical options and their re Read More

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous environmental organisms that can cause various diseases, including pulmonary disease (PD). In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), numerous pulmonary manifestations, including bronchiectasis, may develop into Mycobacterium avium-complex (MAC)-PD, which can be lethal in patients who are being treated with a tumor necrosis factor-alpha blocker. However, the bron Read More

Introduction: The cause of osteoarthritis is inflammation associated with production of proinflammatory cytokines, activation of matrix metalloproteinases, dysregulation of extracellular matrix, and weakening of mechanical cartilage integration. The joint damage is mediated by reactive oxygen species. Biomarkers influencing the course of the disease can be found in the peripheral blood. Aim of the study: The ai Read More

Giant cell arteritis is the most frequently occurring primary vasculitis in European and North American adults over the age of 50 years. It usually presents with constitutional symptoms like fatigue, malaise and fevers with a temporal headache. We present a series of three interesting cases of the disease, discuss the differential diagnosis and review the literature on the same.