Polymyalgia Rheumatica

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Conclusions
Assessment of patient’s pain, MS, ESR, CRP, shoulder pain/limitation on clinical examination and corticosteroid dose are considered to be important in current available definitions of PMR remission and relapse and the present expert consensus. The high relevance of clinical assessment of hips was unique to this study and may improve specificity and sensitivity of definitions for remission and relapse in PMR. (Source: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases)

Conclusion: Rituximab appears an effective and well-tolerated treatment for patients with acquired haemophilia.
PMID: 21042682 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Hamostaseologie)

Temporal arteritis, also known as giant cell arteritis, is the most common vasculitis in adults. Classic symptoms include polymyalgia rheumatica, new-onset headache, jaw claudication, and visual symptoms such as diplopia and amaurosis fugax. Elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate is a common laboratory finding in temporal arteritis, and abnormalities on temporal artery biopsy are the gold standard for diagnosis. Rapid treatment with steroids can prevent permanent vision loss, which is the worst ischemic complication of the disease. It is important for primary care physicians to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of this disease and begin treatment rapidly. (Source: Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice)
MedWorm: Polymyalgia Rheumatica

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Authors: Harder N
Temporal arteritis, also known as giant cell arteritis, is the most common vasculitis in adults. Classic symptoms include polymyalgia rheumatica, new-onset headache, jaw claudication, and visual symptoms such as diplopia and amaurosis fugax. Elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate is a common laboratory finding in temporal arteritis, and abnormalities on temporal artery biopsy are the gold standard for diagnosis. Rapid treatment with steroids can prevent permanent vision loss, which is the worst ischemic complication of the disease. It is important for primary care physicians to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of this disease and begin treatment rapidly.
PMID: 21050956 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Primary Care)
MedWorm: Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Abstract  To study the initial dose of corticoids prescribed by rheumatologists in the Côte d’Or, a French department of Burgundy, in
the treatment of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR), the clinical and biological data of patients who consulted rheumatologists
of the Côte d’Or between March 2006 and December 2008 for PMR were collected. The statistical analyses concerned the initially
prescribed dose of prednisone: the median, mean, and standard deviation were calculated cumulatively and then for individual
rheumatologists; the Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the mean initial doses prescribed with regard to (a) the main practice of the practitioner
(private-practice or hospital rheumatologist), (b) the presence of clinical signs of severity, (c) severity of the inflamma…
MedWorm: Polymyalgia Rheumatica

This article reviews recent guidelines on early diagnosis, investigations and management of these two diseases impacting the elderly. Expert Review of Clinical Immunology (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)
MedWorm: Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Authors: Mari B, Monteagudo M

PMID: 21111949 [PubMed - in process] (Source: European Journal of Internal Medicine)

CONCLUSION: A significant number of patients with clinical features of GCA demonstrated isolated TSVI. Differences in the clinical presentation and cellular composition suggest that TSVI may represent a subset of GCA and should be considered in the interpretation of temporal artery biopsies and treatment decisions.
PMID: 21123318 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: J Rheumatol)
MedWorm: Polymyalgia Rheumatica

Increased arterial stiffness and cardiovascular risk have been observed in inflammatory diseases. Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a disease which affects primarily the elderly and exhibits evidence of a systemic inflammatory response, but little is known about aortic involvement in PMR. We investigated whether aortic stiffness is increased in PMR and whether it improves after steroid treatment. (Source: Artery Research)
MedWorm: Polymyalgia Rheumatica