Publications by authors named "Julio Sanchez-Martin"
Imaging studies have transformed the diagnosis of large vessel vasculitis (LVV) involvement in giant cell arteritis (GCA). A positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan with 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) has emerged as a valuable tool for assessing LVV. We aimed to determine the utility of an 18F-FDG-PET/CT scan in detecting LVV in GCA in the ARTESER registry.
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- * Out of 196 patients treated with TCZ, a significant percentage achieved clinical remission within six months, but imaging improvements lagged behind, with only 12% showing imaging remission at that time.
- * Despite initial concerns, no new aneurysms developed in patients on TCZ therapy during the follow-up, indicating its potential as a safe treatment option for GCA-aortitis.
Article Synopsis
- - The study aimed to analyze how common visual symptoms are in patients with Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) and what factors might predict these symptoms.
- - Out of 1,636 patients with GCA, 36.6% experienced visual issues, with anterior ischemic optic neuropathy being the most common complication; older age and jaw claudication were identified as risk factors for visual involvement.
- - Conversely, conditions like polymyalgia rheumatica, fever, longer symptom duration, and higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate were associated with a lower risk of experiencing visual symptoms.
Objectives: Tocilizumab (TCZ) is the only biologic therapy approved for giant cell arteritis (GCA). There is general agreement on the initial/maintenance dose, duration of TCZ therapy is not well established. In GiACTA trial, after one year on TCZ, most patients had GCA relapse after withdrawal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Visual involvement is the most feared complication of giant cell arteritis (GCA). Information on the efficacy of tocilizumab (TCZ) for this complication is scarce and controversial.
Objective: We assessed a wide series of GCA treated with TCZ, to evaluate its role in the prevention of new visual complications and its efficacy when this manifestation was already present before the initiation of TCZ.
Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CV) and an altered lipid profile. High levels of apolipoprotein C-III (ApoC3) are associated with elevated triglyceride levels and an increased risk of CV. In the present study, we aimed to study circulating ApoC3 in patients with SLE and describe its relationship with the manifestations of the disease.
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- The study aimed to understand the characteristics of patients with anti-HMGCR immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (IMNM) in northern Spain, focusing on demographic, genetic, clinical, and serological features.
- Eight patients were identified, predominantly over 50 years old and with a history of statin use, presenting severe muscle weakness and elevated serum CK levels; 7 out of 8 patients carried a specific HLA gene allele.
- The findings suggest that low vitamin D levels and hypothyroidism may be risk factors for developing anti-HMGCR IMNM, highlighting a potential link to genetic predispositions in this region.
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Risk chart algorithms, such as the Systematic Coronary Risk Assessment (SCORE), often underestimate the risk of CVD in patients with RA. In this sense, the use of noninvasive tools, such as the carotid ultrasound, has made it possible to identify RA patients at high risk of CVD who had subclinical atherosclerosis disease and who had been included in the low or moderate CVD risk categories when the SCORE risk tables were applied.
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- Anti-IL6R tocilizumab (TCZ) therapy shows promise for treating severe ocular and neurological symptoms in Behçet's disease (BD), but its effectiveness for other manifestations is uncertain.
- A study involved 16 patients, primarily with ocular and neurological issues, who were previously unresponsive to standard treatments, and they experienced significant improvement in their symptoms after TCZ therapy.
- While TCZ proved effective in addressing neurological and ocular domains, it was less successful for oral/genital ulcers and skin lesions, suggesting a selective efficacy depending on the specific manifestations of BD.
Objectives: The Xq28 region, containing IRAK and MECP2, represent a common susceptibility locus for a high number of autoimmune diseases. Our aim in the present study was to evaluate the influence of the IRAK1 and MECP2 autoimmunity-associated genetic variants in the giant cell arteritis (GCA) susceptibility and its clinical subphenotypes.
Methods: We analysed a total of 627 female biopsy-proven GCA patients and 1,520 female healthy controls of Spanish Caucasian origin.
We present the case of a 91 years old patient diagnosed through biopsy with temporal arteritis who, in addition, had scalp necrosis. We briefly review the literature for published cases.
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