The Role of Novel Autoantibodies in the Diagnostic Approach and Prognosis of Patients with Raynaud's Phenomenon.

Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) is a condition characterised by distinct colour changes of the digits upon exposure to sympathomimetic conditions, such as cold temperature. It can be either primary or secondary, depending on whether it presents alone or as part of an underlying disorder. One of the most common causes of secondary RP are systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs), in which RP may precede the onset of other autoimmune features by many years.

Canakinumab for refractory RA: a case report.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common autoimmune disease leading often to joint destruction and reduced quality of life. We report a case of a young woman with rheumatoid arthritis with fever and rapid, destructive joint involvement verified with magnetic resonance imaging. She had failed therapy with methotrexate and leflunomide, anti-TNF, IL-6 inhibitor, B cell depletion and IL-1RA.

A muscle mass in a patient with polymyalgia rheumatica.

We report the extremely uncommon case of a 77-year-old woman in whom a tumor found to be a melanotic schwannoma, arising from the right rectus abdominis muscle, was detected during investigation for a rheumatic disorder, finally identified as polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). Tumors of this type most commonly occur in spinal nerve roots, and their clinical behavior is very difficult to predict. As far as we are aware, this is the first reported case affecting the aforementioned site.

Pain relief from nasal salmon calcitonin in osteoporotic vertebral crush fractures. A double blind, placebo-controlled clinical study.

We examined the analgesic effect of nasal salmon calcitonin in patients with acute pain due to recent, nontraumatic osteoporotic vertebral crush fractures. 32 men and 68 postmenopausal women were studied using a prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical design. Men and women taking 200 IU of nasal salmon calcitonin daily for a period of 28 days had a dramatic decrease of spinal pain.

Relapsing Wegener's granulomatosis: successful treatment with cyclosporin-A.

We describe the case of a 32-year-old splenectomised man with severe Wegener's granulomatosis which was refractory to conventional treatment with oral cyclophosphamide and prednisolone. Remission was temporarily induced only with plasma exchange or i.v.