Faculty Bibliography

Tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) have established efficacy in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis; however, there are concerns regarding the risk of lymphoma with their use. Although current data suggest that this risk is not increased with TNFi treatment, there are no data on the risk of recurrence of previously treated lymphoma under TNFi therapy. Herein, we describe a 46-year-old man with recurrent non-Hodgkin lymphoma whose refractory psoriatic arthritis was effectively treated for 5.5 years with the TNFi etanercept, initiated just 7 months after achieving lymphoma remission, without recurrence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However, he subsequently died 6.5 years later of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

ABSTRACT: A 70-year-old man was diagnosed with retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) complicated by ureteral obstruction 4 months after finishing radiotherapy for prostate cancer. He was treated conservatively with ureteral stent placement. After 3 months, computed tomography scan of the abdomen revealed resolution of RPF without any medical or surgical interventions. Although an uncommon event, the possibility of spontaneous resolution of RPF, as demonstrated by this and previously reported cases, has led some to encourage conservative management

In years past, there was concern that splenectomy could lead to dissemination of occult systemic lupus erythematosus. Clinical studies subsequently effectively refuted that concept. However, there remains uncertainty regarding the role of the spleen in autoimmune diseases and the effect of splenectomy on their course. We present a case of a 56-year-old woman with autoimmune hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis, without clinical or serologic features of lupus, who developed glomerulonephritis and antiphospholipid syndrome subsequent to an elective splenectomy. Literature review was performed to identify examples of the effect of splenectomy on other autoimmune diseases. Splenectomy has been linked with the development of new autoimmune phenomenon, alterations in the clinical course of patients with prior autoimmune disease, such as in our patient, and in a progressive redistribution of memory B cells that may influence autoimmune disease activity and may have been involved in the alteration in our patient's clinical course

Although autoimmune syndromes such as systemic lupus erythematosus and dermatomyositis have been previously reported in association with statin use, vasculitis has not been well described. We present a patient with an antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-positive, predominantly cutaneous vasculitis, the temporal course of which was associated with simvastatin/ezetimibe use. The patient's serologic findings were consistent with drug-induced disease, with high titer antimyeloperoxidase, in addition to antinuclear and anti-Ro (SSA) antibodies. The patient demonstrated complete resolution of symptoms simply by withdrawing the drug

The development of bowel-bypass syndrome complicating the Whipple procedure for biliary tract carcinoma is described here for the first time. A 56-year-old HLA-B27 + man, treated with excision of adenocarcinoma of the ampulla of Vater, developed an undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy, initially unresponsive to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and doxycycline, but eventually controlled with sulfasalazine and tapered corticosteroids. This condition represents another example of a rheumatic syndrome occurring after disruption of gastrointestinal tract continuity and likely development of small bowel bacterial overgrowth

To examine the relative influence of speed of information processing versus working memory ability, CFS participants with psychiatric comorbidity (CFS-Psych) and CFS without a psychiatric history (CFS-noPsych) were examined on tests of visual and auditory processing speed and visual and auditory working memory. Compared to healthy controls (HC) and a group of participants with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the CFS-noPsych group displayed significantly reduced performance on tests of information processing speed, but not on tests of working memory. No significant differences were observed between the CFS-Psych group and any other group in the study. The implications of group heterogeneity on the understanding of cognitive impairment in CFS are discussed

Objective: Examine whether memory impairment in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is due to deficits in acquisition, storage, or retrieval. Study Design: Prospective, between-groups design. Participants: Twenty-nine CFS participants without psychiatric comorbidity (CFS-noPsych) and 22 participants with an Axis I psychiatric diagnosis since CFS onset. Two control groups: 30 healthy persons and 19 participants with rheumatoid arthritis. Main Outcome Measures: After being equated for initial learning, recall and recognition were assessed after 30- and 90-min delays. Results: Both CFS groups required more trials to learn the word list than did healthy controls. The CFS-noPsych group performed significantly below healthy controls on recall but not on recognition. Learning/acquisition correlated with measures of complex information processing and not with depressive symptomatology or fatigue. Conclusions: Impaired verbal learning and memory in CFS is primarily a result of deficient acquisition.

The anti-inflammatory effects of both n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been demonstrated in vitro and in many disease states, in particular in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The benefit of n-3 PUFA supplementation has been documented in animal models of periodontal inflammation and a trend towards reduced inflammation has been seen in human experimental gingivitis. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential anti-inflammatory effects of PUFA supplementation, by administration of fish oil as a source of the n-3 PUFA, eicosapentaenoic acid, and borage oil as a source of the n-6 PUFA, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), to adults with periodontitis. Thirty adult human subjects with periodontitis were administered either fish oil 3000 mg daily; borage oil 3000 mg daily; fish oil 1500 and borage oil 1500 mg daily, or placebo. The modified gingival index, the plaque index (PI), periodontal probing depths and beta-glucuronidase levels in gingival crevicular fluid were measured at baseline and after 12 weeks of treatment. Improvement in gingival inflammation was observed in subjects treated with borage oil (P<0.016), with a trend apparent in subjects treated with fish oil or a combination of PUFA. There was no statistically significant improvement in PI, although a trend was apparent in those receiving borage oil. Improvement in probing depth was seen in those subjects treated with either fish oil alone or borage oil alone, but statistical significance was only seen for the comparison of borage oil and placebo (P<0.044). No change was seen in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) beta-glucuronidase levels. The use of borage oil supplementation, a source of the n-6 PUFA, GLA, can have beneficial effects on periodontal inflammation. n-6 PUFA supplementation seemed to offer more impressive results than either n-3 PUFA supplementation or the combination of lower doses of the two supplements. Additional studies will be necessary to more fully assess the potential of these agents to favorably affect periodontal inflammation