Effectively Managing the Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis Amidst the Safety Issues of Biologic Therapy

A discussion of the safety issues surrounding the use of biologic therapy is offered to clinicians to help support making critical treatment choice decisions.  The occurrence of serious infectious episodes, serious post-operative infections, opportunistic infections, and malignancy with biologics compared with nonbiologic therapy will be discussed.  Other areas of concern to be...

Optimizing Biologic Therapy & Clinical Assessment to Improve Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Clinical experts in the field of rheumatology support the need to educate and update clinicians with the most up-to-date data on the efficacy of the older and newer biologics in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in biologic-naïve patients and in those who failed on a previous biologic.  The efficacy of using the same class of biologic versus a biologic with a different mechanism...

Understanding Comorbidities in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

To assist in the bringing about of optimal outcomes and improved quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, this presentation addresses the potential comorbidities in patients with RA, the possible mechanisms for the increased risk of comorbidities in this population, and emerging data examining the impact of RA treatment on the occurrence and/or prevention of comorbidities.

Current Strategies for the Diagnosis & Management of Spondyloarthropathies

This lecture focuses on the clinical presentation and measurements of disease activity of the spondyloarthropathies and on the available treatments. It is essential that clinicians stay abreast of the advances in these areas for optimal outcomes in the management of the spondyloarthropathies. Topics to be discussed include diagnostic criteria, assessment instruments, and current data on the...