Safety of Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants (HSCT) in Systemic Sclerosis
For those of you interested in autologous stem cell transplants, this paper was just published open access in "Clinical Rheumatology": https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10067-017-3954-5. Autologous HSCT may be an appropriate treatment option to consider in certain cases of rapidly progressing disease, but this is a reminder that this is still a high-risk procedure. Here is the abstract: "Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) is thought to be effective therapeutic approach in patients with poor prognosis systemic sclerosis; however, [...]
Article on Heated Gloves for Hand Dysfunction in Scleroderma
This article was supplied to me courtesy of Dr. Allan Metzger*, Medical Director of RDL Reference Lab in Los Angeles. It is an anecdotal guest column in the publication "The Rheumatologist" on the benefits of heated gloves on pain from Raynaud's attacks, digital ulcers, and general hand discomfort from a patient with diffuse systemic scleroderma. It is an interesting article and well worth reading. Here is a direct link to the article: Article on Heated Gloves [...]
“Role of Autoantibodies in Systemic Sclerosis: Relevance in Clinical Practice”
Thomas A. Medsger, Jr., MD University of Pittsburg School of Medicine I just found a recent presentation by Dr. Thomas Medsger on the clinical significance of autoantibodies in systemic scleroderma. This is a slide show presented to rheumatologists in Arizona in 2014 and is the best summary of current research on this topic that I have ever seen. Dr. Medsger is considered by most researchers to be one of the top scleroderma researchers in the world. [...]
Prevalence and Incidence of Systemic Scleroderma in the US
It is very common to read in articles about systemic scleroderma that there are about 300,000 people in the US with this disease. This number is completely wrong, according to numerous research studies. In 2007, the The National Arthritis Data Workgroup reviewed data from national and regional surveys to estimate national prevalence rates of various rheumatic diseases based on 2005 U.S. Census data. The results were published in an article titled, “Estimates of the Prevalence of Arthritis and Other Rheumatic [...]