No abstract available.
Antirheumatic Agents/*therapeutic use ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid/*drug therapy ; Humans ; Piperidines/*therapeutic use ; Pyrimidines/*therapeutic use ; Pyrroles/*therapeutic use

No Abstract available.
Ankle* ; Sarcoidosis* ; Tenosynovitis*

OBJECTIVE: Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is often accompanied by cardiac manifestations, such as valvular heart disease. In this prospective cohort study, we evaluated the incidence of cardiac abnormalities in Korean axSpA patients by echocardiography. METHODS: AxSpA patients were prospectively recruited from a single tertiary hospital. Baseline demographic, clinical, radiographic, and echocardiographic data were collected at the time of enrollment. Echocardiography evaluations were performed with a focus on valvular heart disease and systolic and diastolic function. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors associated with diastolic dysfunction in axSpA. RESULTS: A total of 357 axSpA patients were included in the analyses, of whom 78 (21.8%) exhibited diastolic dysfunction, with no reports of systolic dysfunction. Thirteen patients (3.6%) had valvular heart disease, and aortic valve regurgitation (n=5) and mitral valve regurgitation (n=6) were most common. Multivariable logistic regression analyses indicated that older age and higher body mass index (BMI) were positively associated with diastolic dysfunction, whereas human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27 positivity was negatively associated with diastolic dysfunction. CONCLUSION Valvular heart disease is infrequent in Korean axSpA patients. However, diastolic dysfunction is common in axSpA patients, and is significantly associated with older age, higher BMI, and HLA-B27.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Inhibition of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but safety concerns about malignancy remain. The aim of this study was to evaluate cancer risk in RA patients treated with TNF inhibitors (TNFi), based on Korean Nationwide Health Insurance claims data. METHODS: Patients with seropositive RA were selected from the health insurance database containing all citizens' medical information, based on both RA diagnosis codes and medications. Between 2010 and 2014, RA patients treated with conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (csDMARDs) and TNFi were enrolled and followed up. We compared the cancer incidence between patients treated with TNFi and csDMARDs using incidence rate ratios (IRRs) after adjustment for age, gender, and observational periods. RESULTS: Of 45,423 selected patients with seropositive RA, 2,337 were treated with TNFi and 43,086 were treated with csDMARDs. The TNFi group was younger and was followed-up for a longer duration. During the observational period, 1,732 and 49 cases of cancer were detected in patients treated with csDMARDs and TNFi, respectively. Old age and male sex were associated with cancer occurrence. Adjusted IRRs for all cancers and common cancers demonstrated that cancer incidence did not differ significantly between the TNFi group and csDMARDs group (IRR = 0.913 for all cancers, p = 0.546). CONCLUSIONS This study revealed that cancer incidence was similar in RA patients treated with TNFi and csDMARDs. Anti-TNF therapy may be a safe therapeutic option for RA treatment, in terms of malignancy.

No abstract available.
Stomach ; Vasculitis

Infliximab is a chimeric monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) that is used to treat chronic inflammatory diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Side effects include greater susceptibility to severe infections, such as tuberculosis. Positive diagnosis of tuberculous infections, such as tuberculous peritonitis, are often difficult due to the nonspecific nature of symptoms and the rarity of the infection, with definitive diagnoses requiring either a positive culture or histological biopsy. Here, we describe a case of tuberculous peritonitis during infliximab therapy in a 71-year-old man with AS; the disease was confirmed via histopathological examination.
Aged ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Peritonitis ; Peritonitis, Tuberculous* ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing* ; Tuberculosis ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Infliximab

Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune exocrinopathy that destroys salivary and lacrimal gland tissue. We report an unusual case of this disease in a 54-year-old woman who presented with multiple and bilateral parotid cystic masses. The multiple, small, bead-like cysts were clearly evident in the computed tomography sections in this patient, a visible reminder that this may be the initial presentation in a patient with Sjogren's syndrome. As the case illustrates, Sjogren's syndrome should be included in the differential diagnosis of multiple and bilateral cystic parotid lesions.
Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Lacrimal Apparatus ; Middle Aged ; Parotid Gland ; Rare Diseases ; Sjogren's Syndrome*

Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune exocrinopathy that destroys salivary and lacrimal gland tissue. We report an unusual case of this disease in a 54-year-old woman who presented with multiple and bilateral parotid cystic masses. The multiple, small, bead-like cysts were clearly evident in the computed tomography sections in this patient, a visible reminder that this may be the initial presentation in a patient with Sjogren's syndrome. As the case illustrates, Sjogren's syndrome should be included in the differential diagnosis of multiple and bilateral cystic parotid lesions.
Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Lacrimal Apparatus ; Middle Aged ; Parotid Gland ; Rare Diseases ; Sjogren's Syndrome*