Lymphoma complicating rheumatoid arthritis: results from a French case-control study.

Objectives: To study the characteristics of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) or Hodgkin lymphoma complicating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to identify RA-related factors associated with their occurrence.

Methods: A multicentre case-control study was performed in France. Cases were patients with RA fulfilling ACR-EULAR 2010 criteria in whom B-cell NHL or Hodgkin lymphoma developed after the diagnosis of RA.

Therapeutic Maintenance of Baricitinib and Tofacitinib in Real Life.

Background: Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKis) represent a new alternative to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness, tolerance profile, and maintenance of these treatments (tofacitinib and baricitinib) in real life.

Methods: All patients in the rheumatology department of Amiens University Hospital treated by JAKis for RA were included from 1 October 2017 to 20 May 2020.

Worsening and newly diagnosed paraneoplastic syndromes following anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 immunotherapies, a descriptive study.

Background: Paraneoplastic syndromes (PNS) are autoimmune disorders specifically associated with cancer. There are few data on anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy in patients with a PNS. Our objective was to describe the outcome for patients with a pre-existing or newly diagnosed PNS following the initiation of anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy.

Mobile Phone Text Messages and Effect on Treatment Adherence in Patients Taking Methotrexate for Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Pilot Study.

Objective: To assess the impact of weekly text messages on adherence in patients taking methotrexate (MTX) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: This prospective, randomized pilot, single-site study included patients with RA stabilized using MTX alone or combined with biologics. Participants were randomized to 3 interventions: a standard consultation (controls), a 15-minute pharmacist-led counseling session, or the receipt of text message reminders.

Morbimortality in adult patients with septic arthritis: a three-year hospital-based study.

Background: The objective of this ambispective study was to determine outcomes and associated factors for adult patients with confirmed septic arthritis (SA).

Methods: All adult patients admitted to Amiens University Hospital between November 2010 and December 2013 with confirmed SA were included in the study. Patients with prosthetic joint infections were excluded.

Decrease of Tocilizumab Dose in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Pilot Study.

Background: The efficacy and safety of tocilizumab (TCZ) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are well demonstrated. Doses of 4 and 8 mg/kg are used intravenously. The objective of our study was to report the efficacy and safety for a set of patients who had an 8 mg/kg doze of TCZ and for another set who had this treatment first at a dose of 8 followed by 4 mg/kg.

Difficulties in the diagnosis of vertebral fracture in men: agreement between doctors.

Unlabelled: The agreement for vertebral fracture (VF) diagnosis in men, between doctors is poor.

Objectives: To assess the agreement for VF diagnosis, in men, on standard radiographs, between experts, before and after consensual workshop and establishing an algorithm.

Methods: The agreement between thirteen experimented rheumatologists has been calculated in thirty osteoporotic men.

Treatment persistence and changes in fracture risk, back pain, and quality of life amongst patients treated with teriparatide in routine clinical care in France: results from the European Forsteo Observational Study.

Objectives: The European Forsteo Observational Study assessed the clinical fracture incidence, back pain, quality of life (QoL), and treatment persistence amongst post-menopausal women, who were prescribed teriparatide in routine care in eight European countries. We present the results for France, with health-insurance reimbursement criteria channel teriparatide to women with severe disease and limit treatment to 18 months.

Methods: A representative sample of women initiating teriparatide in France was followed in routine care for 36 months.

Musculoskeletal ultrasonography in healthy subjects and ultrasound criteria for early arthritis (the ESPOIR cohort).

Objective: To confirm the occurrence of bone erosions and synovitis in healthy subjects detectable by ultrasound (US) and to establish US criteria for early arthritis.

Methods: Our study involved 127 healthy subjects matched with a cohort of patients with early arthritis (the ESPOIR cohort). The second and fifth metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints and the fifth metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint of both hands and feet were assessed with US to detect bone erosion; and the second, third, fourth, and fifth MCP and the fifth MTP were evaluated for synovial thickening in B-mode US and synovial vascularity in power Doppler.

First case of human spondylodiscitis due to Shewanella algae.

We present the first case of human spondylodiscitis due to Shewanella algae. Our patient did not have any predisposing factors. The portal of entry was probably a cutaneous lesion on the leg, exposed to seawater.

Hematogenous Staphylococcus aureus discitis in adults can start outside the vertebral body.

Background: Textbooks describe hematogenous discitis in adults as starting in the anterior vertebral body near the endplates.

Case Report: Hematogenous Staphylococcus aureus discitis developed at L1-L2 in an 81-year-old woman. On the first magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan performed 4 days after symptom onset, the only abnormalities were high signal from the disk on T2-weighted images, gadolinium enhancement of the soft tissues anterior to L1-L2, and epidural involvement.

Radiographic methods for evaluating osteoporotic vertebral fractures.

Unlabelled: Reproducible methods for the radiological assessment of osteoporotic vertebral fractures, defined based on accurate criteria, are needed in everyday practice and in therapeutic trials and epidemiological studies.

Objectives: To describe and to evaluate methods for osteoporotic vertebral fracture assessment based on standard radiographs or dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and to determine the role for each method in clinical practice, therapeutic trials, and epidemiological studies.

Methods: A review written by a rheumatologist based on his clinical experience and on a literature review was submitted to four experts.

Discitis due to Clostridium perfringens.

Introduction: A combination of disk space narrowing and vacuum phenomenon on radiographs of the spine is usually considered a reliable indicator of degenerative disk disease. We report a case in which vacuum phenomenon was related to Clostridium perfringens discitis.

Methods: A 79-year-old woman was admitted for inflammatory low back pain that had worsened steadily over the last 2 months.

Suggestions for managing pyogenic (non-tuberculous) discitis in adults.

Objectives: To develop recommendations about identifying the causative organism, obtaining imaging studies, and selecting pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments in adults with pyogenic discitis and vertebral osteomyelitis (PDVO).

Methods: A rheumatologist and an infectiologist drafted recommendations based on their personal experience and a review of studies in English or French retrieved on Medline using the following search terms: "infectious spondylodiscitis", "infectious spondylitis", "spondylodiscitis", "discitis", "vertebral osteomyelitis", "spine infection", and "bone and joint infections". The recommendations were submitted to four experts for validation.

Clinical and laboratory safety of one year's use of a combination calcium + vitamin D tablet in ambulatory elderly women with vitamin D insufficiency: results of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Objective: This article presents the results of an evaluation of the clinical and laboratory safety of a 1-year course of treatment with a combination calcium and vitamin D tablet in ambulatory women aged >65 years with vitamin D insufficiency.

Methods: In a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted in France, women with a 25-hydroxyvitamin D level < or =12 ng/mL were randomized to receive either a combination tablet containing calcium carbonate 500 mg and vitamin D3 400 IU taken twice daily or a matching placebo tablet for 1 year. A complete clinical examination was performed at baseline and at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of treatment; blood and urine samples were collected for laboratory analyses at the same time points.

Osteoarticular side effects of BCG therapy.

Although osteoarticular side effects of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) are rare compared to the number of administrations, BCG vaccination and cancer therapy are so widely used that the absolute number of cases is not negligible. Osteoarticular infection is an exceedingly rare complication of vaccination with the BCG. Intravesical BCG instillations used to treat superficial bladder cancer may cause arthralgia, reactive arthritis or osteoarticular infections.

Longitudinal femoral shaft due to bone insufficiency. A review of three cases.

We report three new cases of longitudinal femoral shaft fracture due to bone insufficiency and review the eight cases reported in the literature. The typical patient is a woman older than 65 years of age who present with mechanical pain in the thigh and/or groin. Palpation of the thigh may reproduce the pain.

Prediction of bone mass density variation by bone remodeling markers in postmenopausal women with vitamin D insufficiency treated with calcium and vitamin D supplementation.

The aim of this study was to determine whether early changes in bone markers could predict long-term response in bone mineral density (BMD) after calcium (500 mg) and vitamin D (400 IU) supplementation twice daily in ambulatory elderly women with vitamin D insufficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D, <12 ng/ml). One hundred and ninety-two women (mean age, 75 +/- 7 yr) were randomized to receive either the supplementation (n = 95) or a placebo (n = 97) in a double-blind, controlled clinical trial for 1 yr. In comparison with the placebo group, supplementation significantly increased BMD, normalized 25-hydroxyvitamin D and significantly decreased intact PTH and bone remodeling markers.

Bone mineral density directly correlates with elevated serum leptin in haemodialysis patients.

Background: Experimentally, leptin has a positive effect on bone mass when infused intravenously, but a negative one after intracerebroventricular administration. Renal failure increases its serum level above the concentration beyond which its transport to the brain may be saturated. Thus, we tested, in a chronic haemodialysis population, the hypothesis of a positive relationship between serum leptin and bone mineral density (BMD) when serum levels are above this threshold.