The present study demonstrated moderate to good interobserver reproducibility of a semiquantitative scoring system based on qualitative morphological changes for cartilage damage at MCP joint level in patients with RA.

No abstract

The proposed US10 scoring system proved to be a useful tool for monitoring inflammation and joint damage in early RA patients, demonstrating significant correlations with longitudinal changes in disease activity and functional status.

VASSw responded better at short and medium term after IAI with triamcinolone hexacetonide in our sample of RA patients.

Background: The vasculitides are a group of rare diseases with different manifestations and outcomes. New therapeutic options have led to the need for long-term registries. The Rheumatic Diseases Portuguese Register, Reuma.pt, is a web-based electronic clinical record, created in 2008, which currently includes specific modules for 12 diseases and > 20,000 patients registered from 79 rheumatology centres. On October 2014, a dedicated module for vasculitis was created as part of the European Vasculitis Society collaborative network, enabling prospective collection and central storage of encrypted data from patients with this condition. All Portuguese rheumatology centres were invited to participate. Data regarding demographics, diagnosis, classification criteria, assessment tools, and treatment were collected. We aim to describe the structure of Reuma.pt/vasculitis and characterize the patients registered since its development. Results: A total of 687 patients, with 1945 visits, from 13 centres were registered; mean age was 53.4 ± 19.3 years at last visit and 68.7% were females. The most common diagnoses were Behçet's disease (BD) (42.5%) and giant cell arteritis (GCA) (17.8%). Patients with BD met the International Study Group criteria and the International Criteria for BD in 85.3 and 97.2% of cases, respectively. Within the most common small-and medium-vessel vasculitides registered, median [interquartile range] Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS) at first visit was highest in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) (17.0 [12.0]); there were no differences in the proportion of patients with AAV or polyarteritis nodosa who relapsed (BVAS≥1) or had a major relapse (≥1 major BVAS item) during prospective assessment (p = 1.00, p = 0.479). Biologic treatment was prescribed in 0.8% of patients with GCA, 26.7% of patients with AAV, and 7.6% of patients with BD. There were 34 (4.9%) deaths reported.

A vacinação é uma das formas de prevenção para doenças infecciosas. Pacientes com doenças reumatológicas apresentam uma maior prevalência de doenças infecciosas quando comparados com a população em geral, seja devido à deficiência imune da doença de base ou pelo uso de terapia imunossupressora. Portanto, a vacinação é uma medida eficaz para a redução da morbidade e mortalidade nesses pacientes. O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar a segurança e eficácia das vacinas em pacientes imunossuprimidos e com doenças reumatológicas auto-imunes. De um modo geral, as vacinas de bactérias e vírus mortos são seguras em pacientes com doenças reumatológicas, mesmo em uso de terapias imunossupressoras. A vacinação é eficaz para a grande maioria dos pacientes, sendo que uma pequena parcela destes não apresentam resposta imunológica satisfatória pós-imunização. Vacinas com bactérias ou vírus vivos atenuados são, em geral, contra-indicadas em pacientes imunossuprimidos.

Imaging-guided IAI improves regional pain in patients with various types of synovitis in the short term. For the vast majority of variables, no significant difference in terms of effectiveness was observed between fluoroscopy and ultrasound guided IAI.

No abstract