European journal of internal medicine
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Aug 2024
Observational StudyPrognostic value of 18 FDG-PET at diagnosis and follow-up in giant cell arteritis: An observational restrospective study.
To evaluate the ability of 18FDG PET/CT, at diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and during follow-up, to predict occurrence of relapse in large-vessel GCA (LV-GCA). ⋯ PET vascular activity scores at diagnosis and at follow-up PET/CT performed outside a period of GCA activity do not display high performance to predict the occurrence of subsequent relapse in LV-GCA patients.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Aug 2024
Serum IL-6 level trajectory for predicting the effectiveness and safety of tocilizumab in the treatment of refractory Takayasu arteritis.
To explore the value of serial monitoring of serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels for predicting treatment response and occurrence of adverse events during tocilizumab (TCZ) treatment in refractory Takayasu arteritis (TAK). ⋯ The change of IL-6 levels after TCZ treatment for 6 months compared to the baseline can predict the overall treatment response at 12 months, 24 months and sustained improvement.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Aug 2024
Incidence and predisposing factors of extra-articular manifestations in contemporary rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis [RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease, with potential for extra-articular manifestations (ExRA). The incidence and predisposing factors for ExRA and the mortality were evaluated in an early RA inception cohort. ⋯ Early development of ExRA is frequent, particularly rheumatoid nodules. Predisposing factors were age, RF positivity, smoking and early biological treatment. The patients with ExRA had a 3-fold increase in mortality.