Switching from intravenous tocilizumab to subcutaneous administration during COVID-19 pandemic: impact on treatment efficacy and patient satisfaction.

Objectives: We aimed to assess the efficacy and patient satisfaction of subcutaneous tocilizumab (SC TCZ) in patients previously treated with intravenous tocilizumab (IV TCZ) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We conducted a single-centre retrospective study at the Rheumatology Day Care at the Rheumatology Institute, Rambam Health Care Campus, Israel. Clinical and laboratory data of IV TCZ treated patients who switched to SC TCZ were retracted and analysed.

Hypocomplementemia during tocilizumab treatment: Long-term follow-up results.

Hypocomplementemia has been reported in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with tocilizumab (TCZ), but its long-term consequences are unknown. We assessed the long-term outcome of patients treated with TCZ who developed hypocomplementemia regarding serious bacterial infections or autoimmune diseases (AID).The charts of patients treated with TCZ at two rheumatology centers were reviewed retrospectively.

Disease activity and humoral response in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases after two doses of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.

Background: The registration trials of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 did not address patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases (IRD).

Objective: To assess the humoral response after two doses of mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, in patients with IRD treated with immunomodulating drugs and the impact on IRD activity.

Methods: Consecutive patients treated at the rheumatology institute, who received their first SARS-CoV-2 (Pfizer) vaccine, were recruited to the study, at their routine visit.

The Effects of Adalimumab in Behçet Disease Patients on Clinical Manifestations and on Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines Milieu: Long-Term Follow-Up.

Background: Behçet's disease is a multi-systemic chronic relapsing inflammatory disease, classified among the vasculitides. The heterogeneity of clinical manifestations challenges the disease management.

Objectives: To assess efficacy and safety of adalimumab in patients with active persistent Behçet's arthritis who did not respond to disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and to assess the impact of treatment on the cytokine milieu.

Digital ulcer debridement in systemic sclerosis: a systematic literature review.

Optimal wound care is an essential component in the management of systemic sclerosis (SSc) digital ulcers (DUs). DU debridement has been suggested to reduce ulcer-related pain and improve tissue healing. However, only a minority of rheumatologists perform DU debridement, and there is no standard of care/protocol.

[ADHD IN THE AGING POPULATION: A NEW DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS?].

Introduction: During midlife and aging, subjective reports regarding cognitive decline increase in frequency. Age-associated cognitive impairment, mild cognitive impairment and dementia, increase in prevalence and are frequently diagnosed. Background medical conditions and risk factors are often regarded as contributing to the cognitive decline.

Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension: can we be certain?

Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) is an isolated small-vessel disease comprising vasoconstriction, remodeling and thrombosis of small pulmonary arteries. However, there is evidence that IPAH does not respect anatomic boundaries and might extend into large vessels such as large central thrombi. On the other hand, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) represents a distinct category of pulmonary hypertension as it is thought to be due to an occlusion of the major pulmonary arteries following a thromboembolic event.

Role of multisection CT angiography in the evaluation of vertebrobasilar vasospasm in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Background And Purpose: Optimal means for assessing cerebral vasospasm, mainly at the vertebrobasilar system, have not been established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of multisection CT angiography (MCTA) in the detection and quantification of vertebrobasilar vasospasm (VBS) indicated on transcranial Doppler (TCD) imaging in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH).

Methods: Forty-three MCTA studies of the vertebrobasilar arteries were performed with a multisection spiral CT scanner in 36 patients with SAH.

Basilar vasospasm diagnosis: investigation of a modified "Lindegaard Index" based on imaging studies and blood velocity measurements of the basilar artery.

Background And Purpose: Numerous studies have shown that cerebral vasospasm is one of the leading causes of death and neurological disability after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Most of these studies, however, have focused on anterior circulation vessels. Since the introduction of the transcranial Doppler (TCD), increasing attention has been given to basilar artery (BA) vasospasm, especially in traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage.