Publications by authors named "Johannes Rasker"

Article Synopsis
  • Hughes-Stovin syndrome (HSS) is a rare condition characterized by systemic vasculitis leading to both venous and arterial thrombosis, making it hard to differentiate from pulmonary embolism (PE) early on.
  • This study compared 40 HSS patients to 50 PE patients, analyzing demographics, clinical findings, and results from computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA).
  • Results revealed that HSS patients were significantly younger and did not have co-morbidities like many PE patients; HSS showed unique vascular changes, including more frequent parenchymal hemorrhage and distinct pulmonary artery aneurysms.*
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Aim:  Pulmonary artery aneurysms (PAAs) are the most well-defined type of pulmonary vascular complication in Behçet's disease (BD).The aim of this study is to analyze which CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) signs are associated with serious morbidity and mortality.

Methods: The study included 42 BD patients with pulmonary vascular complications.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction:  Piriformis syndrome (PS) is a rare focal soft tissue rheumatic disease. Due to heavy rural work, we questioned whether PS was more prevalent in the rainy monsoon than in other seasons. In this pilot research, we studied the pattern of PS, the frequency of PS over the seasons, and whether there were typical preceding events.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Musculoskeletal issues are common in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and tofacitinib, a drug approved for rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis, shows promise for treating arthritis associated with IBD.
  • Two case studies highlighted that a woman with ulcerative colitis and a man with Crohn's disease had significant improvement in their arthritis after being treated with tofacitinib, even after failing other treatments.
  • These findings suggest that tofacitinib could be an effective option for managing arthritis linked to inflammatory bowel diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Despite data showing that fibromyalgia can be represented as a dimensional disorder, almost all assessments treat fibromyalgia as a dichotomous categorial disorder; and research shows that agreement between community diagnosis of fibromyalgia and fibromyalgia criteria is poor. We investigated the validity of FM as a discrete disorder by exploring the relationships of categorical fibromyalgia, the polysymptomatic distress (PSD) scale, and clinical variables.

Methods: In a databank of 33,972 rheumatic disease patients, we studied the categorical diagnosis of fibromyalgia, the PSD scale separately and divided into severity groups, measures of widespread pain, as well as somatic syndrome questionnaires like the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), and clinical pain, global, HAQ disability and quality of life scales (EQ-5D).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Statins are used to lower serum cholesterol. Recent preclinical and clinical research focuses on articular cartilage regeneration aspects of statin. This review summarizes the effects of statins on knee osteoarthritis (OA).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

is a rare chronic granulomatous disease caused by anaerobic filamentous gram-positive bacteria, the most common of which is . Actinomycetes are commensal inhabitants of the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract, but they may become pathogenic through invasion of breached or necrotic tissue. Pelviabdominal is uncommon and can mimic a variety of disease processes, including abdominal mass mimicking malignancy, acute abdomen, asthenia, and weight loss.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We describe a case of bone marrow edema (BME) shifting within one ankle joint in a 35-year-old - male patient. He presented with increasing pain and no history of trauma. Clinically no local swelling was found and laboratory findings and plain x-ray studies were normal.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Gruberi sinus tarsi bursa is a dorsolateral ankle anatomic bursa that has been described in the past but is rarely mentioned in recent radiology literature. The Gruberi bursa is distinguished by its position between the extensor digitorum longus tendons and the talus. It is usually unilocular, anechoic and compressible as shown with ultrasound in a previous study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) comprise a group of haematologic malignancies with different histologic subtypes. The clinical picture varies from indolent to aggressive presentation and nodal (lymphadenopathy) to extranodal (central nervous system, gastrointestinal, cutaneous plaque, or ulcer) involvement. Digital gangrene is seldom reported.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: There is cumulative evidence in the literature supporting a potential role of faecal calprotectin (FCP) as a biomarker for gut inflammation in spondyloarthritis (SpA). However its relevance in undifferentiated SpA (USpA) is still uncertain. The aim of the current study is to assess the diagnostic significance of FCP levels in patients with differentiated and undifferentiated SpA.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Subjective cognitive dysfunction (SCD) is common in fibromyalgia (FM), where it has been called 'fibrofog.' But its predictors and correlates are not well understood, including the extent to which SCD is present in fibromyalgia and non-fibromyalgia clinical populations. In addition, there are no studies available concerning SCD and fibromyalgia in the general population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Fibromyalgia developed in the 1950s from a substrate of difficult to explain regional and widespread pain mixed with symptoms of psychosocial distress. Controversies regarding psychological issues were common. Multiple criteria arose to define the disorder, but each identified a different set of patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent type of arthritis worldwide, resulting in pain and often chronic disability and a significant burden on healthcare systems globally. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), analgesics, intra-articular corticosteroid injections are of little value in the long term, and opioids may have ominous consequences. Radiotherapy of knee OA has no added value.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Hughes-Stovin syndrome (HSS) is a systemic vasculitis characterized by widespread venous/arterial thrombosis and pulmonary artery aneurysms (PAAs), which is associated with serious morbidity and mortality. All fatalities reported in HSS resulted from unpredictable fatal suffocating hemoptysis. Therefore, it is necessary to recognize pulmonary complications at an early stage of the disease.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Transient osteoporosis of the hip, also termed transient bone marrow edema, is a painful condition often occurring after trivial trauma. It can be diagnosed with MRI in patients whose radiographs are negative or inconclusive. In this case report we describe a 39-year-old female patient with this rare entity, who was successfully treated with oral Alendronate, active vitamin D and calcium supplementation combined with avoiding of weight bearing on the affected hip.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Several epidemiological and clinical reports associate fibromyalgia (FM) with seizure disorders, and clinical studies associate FM diagnosis with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. However, these associations rely on self-reports of being diagnosed with FM or unstandardized clinical diagnosis in combination with small samples. We investigated the association of FM and self-reported seizures using a large rheumatic disease databank and the current established self-reported, symptom-based FM diagnostic criteria.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hughes-Stovin syndrome (HSS) is a systemic disease characterized by widespread vascular thrombosis and pulmonary vasculitis with serious morbidity and mortality. The HSS International Study Group is a multidisciplinary taskforce aiming to study HSS, in order to generate consensus recommendations regarding diagnosis and treatment.

Methods: We included 57 published cases of HSS (43 males) and collected data regarding: clinical presentation, associated complications, hemoptysis severity, laboratory and computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) findings, treatment modalities and cause of death.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The COVID-19 pandemic mainly impacts the respiratory system, particularly affecting elderly patients with pre-existing health conditions.
  • Survivors of mechanical ventilation face a higher risk of post-intensive care syndrome (PICS), highlighting the necessity for pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), which currently lacks extensive high-quality research.
  • Recommendations for PR include various breathing techniques and exercises, as well as nutritional and psychological support, with a strong emphasis on monitoring vital signs during rehab; telerehabilitation may be an alternative when in-person sessions are not feasible.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF