Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Feb 2018
The BVAS is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events and cardiovascular disease-related mortality in patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis: A study of 504 cases in a single Chinese center.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the major causes of death in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) during long-term follow-up. This study investigated risk factors for cardiovascular events (CVE) and CVD-related mortality in Chinese AAV patients. ⋯ Besides the traditional risk factors, BVAS at presentation was an independent predictor of CVE- and CVD-related mortality in patients with AAV.
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Feb 2018
Persistence of biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: An analysis of the South Korean National Health Insurance Database.
This study examined and compared the persistence of adalimumab, etanercept, infliximab, or abatacept as first- and subsequent-line treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in the South Korean clinical practice. ⋯ Adalimumab, etanercept, and infliximab had similar levels of persistence during the 1-year after treatment initiation, when used as first-line treatment. However, when used as a subsequent-line treatment, etanercept and abatacept had higher persistence than infliximab or adalimumab. Persistence could be a consideration when selecting the subsequent-line biologic treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis in South Korea.
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Semin. Arthritis Rheum. · Feb 2018
18F-FDG PET/CT in the follow-up of large-vessel vasculitis: A study of 37 consecutive patients.
18F-FDG PET/CT has proved to be of potential value for early diagnosis of large-vessel vasculitis (LVV), which frequently involves the aorta. However, its role in the follow-up of these patients has not been well established. Our aim was to evaluate the contribution of 18F-FDG PET/CT in this clinical situation. ⋯ The results obtained in the present study highlight the impact of 18F-FDG PET/CT on the management of patients with LVV.