May Kazem MD MHA FRCPC
@drmkazem.bsky.social
Rheumatologist | Interested in Scleroderma and Bone health | @UBC 🤓
🆕 Clinical Year in Review at #ACR25 By Dr. Bryant England @unmc.bsky.social 🔶 Review the most impactful studies in #Rheumatology from the past year! ❓ Any studies you would add to the list? #RheumSky #MedSky #YearInReview
Acute and chronic viral infections, including Herpes Zoster (Shingles), Hepatitis C, HIV, CMV, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2, are linked with a substantial increased risk of cardiovascular events, from a systematic review. Figure for SARS-CoV-2 below newsroom.heart.org/news/some-ac...
🆕 Secrets & Pearls of #Rheumatology at #ACR25 | Part 1 by Dr. Janet Pope 🖐️ Cutaneous Pathology SLE/DM 🧴 Tips for SLE 💪 Cancer Screening in Myositis 🩸 Laboratory Testing 🥶 Raynaud's / Scleroderma 👀 Sjogrens Disease #RheumSky #MedSky #Lupus #Myositis #Scleroderma #Sjogrens
#ACR25: @jyazdanymd.bsky.social chief of rheumatology at San Francisco General Hospital @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social at the 2025 ACR Convergence, as part of session, “The Great Debate in AI: Unlocking Potential or Unleashing Chaos?” Image & quote taken by Larry Luxner #RareDisease #RheumSky #MedSky
#ACR25: Jeff Curtis, MD, professor of medicine at UAB, speaking at the 2025 ACR Convergence in Chicago as part of a session titled “The Great Debate in AI: Unlocking Potential or Unleashing Chaos?” Image & quote taken by, Larry Luxner #RareDisease #Rheumatology #AI #MedTech #RheumSky
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... Another GLP-1 target: Age related macular degeneration
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist and Age-Related Macular Degeneration
This cohort study assesses the association between glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist use and the development or progression of age-related macular degeneration compared with other weight loss d...
jamanetwork.com
FDA Approves Obinutuzumab for Active Lupus Nephritis The FDA has approved obinutuzumab (Gazyva) for the treatment of lupus nephritis. This is good news for the more than 1.7 million people worldwide with lupus nephritis. buff.ly/my15Pnn
What do rheumatologists & hematologists need to know about Castleman disease? In our NEWEST episode, we unpack diagnosis, treatment, & the evolving understanding of this complex condition LISTEN NOW🎙️→ acr.tw/48lersf
ACR Journals@acr-journals.bsky.social · last yr.Castleman disease can be a diagnostic challenge, and more than half of multicentric CD cases are idiopathic. Expert perspective in Arthritis & Rheumatology examines types of idiopathic multicentric CD, their mimics, and current treatments doi.org/10.1002/art.... #Medsky #Rheumsky
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40856800/
Real-world effectiveness and safety of tocilizumab in the management of polymyalgia rheumatica: a retrospective study from the KEIO-PMR cohort - PubMed
Tocilizumab effectively reduced relapse rates and demonstrated glucocorticoid-sparing effects in patients with refractory PMR in the real world, with no significant safety issues. These results furthe...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
www.healio.com/news/hematol...
GLP-1s & cancer: Data show survival benefit, reveal gap in patient-clinician communication
Choice of therapy to control high blood sugar may affect survival among older adults with cancer and type 2 diabetes, according to study results.Those who used GLP-1 receptor agonists exhibited signif...
healio.com
An editorial on the paper from @dfeterman.bsky.social & @alisonbays.bsky.social examining the impact of insurance prior authorizations on individuals with giant cell arteritis (risk of blindness if not treated) in WA state Thank you to @jrheumatol.bsky.social for publishing & highlighting
The Journal of Rheumatology @jrheumatol.bsky.social · last yr.Editorial Does Prior Authorization for Tocilizumab Lead to Unacceptable Treatment Delays in Giant Cell Arteritis? 📖 doi.org/10.3899/jrhe... @westernu.ca #giantcellarteritis #vasculitis
Local immune effector cell-associated toxicity syndrome (LICATS) in #CART-cell treated patients with autoimmune disease: an observational study - The Lancet Rheumatology www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Local immune effector cell-associated toxicity syndrome in CAR T-cell treated patients with autoimmune disease: an observational study
LICATS is a new form of toxicity in patients with autoimmune disease receiving CD19-targeting CAR T-cell therapy, most likely based on the cleansing of immune cells from the affected organs. It is sel...
thelancet.com
Trial of metformin for knee #osteoarthritis showed improvement in knee pain vs. placebo. What’s the mechanism? Curious to see what the weight loss differences were been groups. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Metformin for Knee Osteoarthritis in Patients With Overweight or Obesity
This randomized clinical trial assesses the effect of metformin on knee pain among patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis and overweight or obesity.
jamanetwork.com
Tolebrutinib is a BTK inhibitor that is being studied for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis. Research findings from the GEMINI 1 and GEMINI 2 trials comparing tolebrutinib with teriflunomide are summarized in a new Quick Take video. nej.md/3S1hY5N #MedSky #NeuroSky
Tolebrutinib versus Teriflunomide in Multiple Sclerosis | NEJM
Quick Take Video Summary from The New England Journal of Medicine — Tolebrutinib versus Teriflunomide in Multiple Sclerosis
nej.md
single-centre study of 469 consecutive RA pts - 15 had VTE (3%). Strongest risk factor of VTE was the history of previous VTE (OR 44.7), recent hospitalisation (OR 6.82), diabetes (OR 11.23), and JAKi (OR 5.54) (Other studies show inflammation incr VTE risk) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40314997/
Risk factors associated with venous thromboembolism in rheumatoid arthritis in clinical practice - PubMed
In this study of RA patients, history of VTE and recent hospitalisation were identified as strong risk factors of VTE. Moreover, it emphasises the importance of evaluating cardiovascular risk…
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Inclusion of results from new large RCTs provides further robust evidence that the addition of low-dose colchicine to standard-of-care therapy decreases the incidence of MACE, MI, ischaemic stroke, & recurrent coronary revascularization in vascular disease patients academic.oup.com/eurheartj/ad...
Long-term trials of colchicine for secondary prevention of vascular events: a meta-analysis
AbstractBackground and Aims. Colchicine has emerged as a safe and inexpensive anti-inflammatory medication to target the residual risk of cardiovascular ev
academic.oup.com
Adding Acrometastases to synovitis differential 🤯
ACR Journals@acr-journals.bsky.social · last yr.A 74 y/o woman was referred for osteoarthritis with pain over the base of her right thumb. Hand x-ray (A) showed advanced OA of the first CMC joint. She returned 6 months later with 2-week history of pain, swelling, and pitting edema over the dorsum of her right hand and wrist (B) #Medsky
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists compared with bariatric metabolic surgery and the risk of obesity-related cancer: an observational, retrospective cohort study - eClinicalMedicine www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl...
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists compared with bariatric metabolic surgery and the risk of obesity-related cancer: an observational, retrospective cohort study
Our finding suggest that first-generation GLP1-RA treatment does not increase ORC risk in patients receiving GLP1-RA treatment for diabetes and weight loss. Moreover, this may point at additional path...
thelancet.com
The SPARTAN Review Course is on! Dr. Aki Nakamura presented on the pathogenesis of axial spondyloarthritis, highlighting new science around HLA-B27, arthritogenic peptides and mechanisms of disease independent of HLA-B27. deptmed.queensu.ca/index.php/pe...
A major paper @nature.com this week found a significant decline in dementia after an outdated Shingles vaccine. I've reviewed the study and many other relevant ones here erictopol.substack.com/p/the-shingl...
The Shingles Vaccine and Reduction of Dementia
A compelling new study adds to the body of data supporting some protection provided by the vaccine
erictopol.substack.com
A Phase 3 Trial of #Upadacitinib for Giant-Cell Arteritis | NEJM www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... “In patients with giant-cell #arteritis, upadacitinib at a dose of 15 mg — but not 7.5 mg — with a 26-week glucocorticoid taper showed efficacy superior to that of placebo.” #Rheumsky #GCA
A Phase 3 Trial of Upadacitinib for Giant-Cell Arteritis | NEJM
Giant-cell arteritis is a systemic vasculitis with limited treatment options. The efficacy and safety of upadacitinib — a selective Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor that blocks the signaling of several...
nejm.org