Interstitial lung disease is a dominant feature in patients with circulating myositis-specific antibodies.

Background: Many patients with polymyositis (PM) or dermatomyositis (DM) have circulating myositis-specific antibodies (MSAs). Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a common manifestation of PM/DM, and it can even precede the onset of characteristic muscle or skin manifestations. Furthermore, there appear to be some patients with ILD and circulating MSAs who do not develop muscle or skin disease even after prolonged follow-up.

Single-center series and systematic review of randomized controlled trials of malignancies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis receiving anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha therapy: is there a need for more comprehensive screening procedures?

Objective: To systematically review the occurrence of malignancies among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNFalpha) therapy in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and to report a retrospective personal case series evaluating the frequency of malignancies in patients with RA, PsA, and AS requiring anti-TNF therapy selected with more comprehensive cancer screening procedures compared with patients screened according to previously published procedures.

Methods: The primary outcome was the report of frequency of malignancies in RCTs and the latency between the therapy introduction and the occurrence of the neoplasm. A total of 363 consecutive RA, PsA, and AS patients requiring anti-TNF therapy from 2002 to 2006 observed at the Rheumatology Unit in Prato, Italy, underwent extensive cancer screening procedures.

Musculoskeletal manifestations of Lyme disease.

Musculoskeletal symptoms in Lyme disease are very common at all stages of the disease. Lyme arthritis, whether intermittent or chronic, is a hallmark of late Lyme disease. This may cause severe joint pain and swelling especially confined to one or a few joints, most notably the knee.

Outcome measurements in scleroderma: results from a delphi exercise.

Objective: To obtain a consensus on the minimal clinically relevant treatment effect in various scleroderma disease outcome measures to be used in future clinical trials.

Methods: A Delphi consensus building exercise using a survey was sent out to members of the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium (SCTC). The 65 SCTC members were divided into 2 groups.

Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis.

Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis is a rare granulomatous disease of unknown etiology, characterized by cutaneous nodules and destructive arthritis. Skin lesions can cause significant deformity, and approximately half of affected patients develop a severe disabling arthritis. The disease is often associated with malignancy; however, the paraneoplastic nature of multicentric reticulohistiocytosis is not established.

Bronchiectasis in rheumatoid arthritis: report of four cases and a review of the literature--implications for management with biologic response modifiers.

Objective: To describe patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who subsequently developed bronchiectasis (BR) and to review the literature on biologic response modifiers (BRM) in relation to infectious complications in the management of these patients.

Methods: We describe 4 patients with RA who were diagnosed with BR out of a cohort of 170 patients. We then performed a comprehensive review of the English language literature on the major clinical trials for RA that involved the BRMs etanercept, infliximab, anakinra, and adalimumab.