EULAR 2008 Highlights From Maxime Dougados, MD
This feature requires the newest version of Flash. .
This feature requires the newest version of Flash. You can download it here.
Take this Commentary with you!
Download this Commentary as an MP3 and load it onto your iPod or other portable audio player.
MP3 Audio file (Right-click and select "Save Target As…" to download)
Maxime Dougados, MD: Welcome to Paris [France]. My name is Maxime Dougados. I am a rheumatologist in Paris, and I am also involved in the organization of this meeting, the EULAR 2008 meeting, which is the biggest one in terms of the number of participants. There are more than 14,000 participants coming from all around the world; in particular more than 1000 American colleagues are participating in this meeting, not only in terms of quantity, but also of quality.
It is very difficult to summarize what we have learned during this meeting from the 124 scientific sessions and educational programs. Also, not only during the scientific sessions, but in parallel to this meeting, EULAR is willing to collaborate with different societies. As an example, there were discussions in this city for a EULAR-ACR [American College of Rheumatology] collaboration to discuss different projects, different initiatives that are ongoing in the [rheumatology] field; and I am very pleased to announce that we, that is, the EULAR and ACR board, both agree -- to have a joint publication of different initiatives. You will see published in October 2008 in Arthritis Care and Research and also in Annals of Rheumatic Disease the first joint initiative [between EULAR and ACR].
Apart from this collaboration, there are many publications focusing on new treatments, modalities, new outcomes, and it is fantastic to see how rheumatology is moving all around the world.
As an example, we are now looking not only at soft endpoints, but also hard endpoints. If I take the example of osteoporosis, we have learned that in the United States the rate of hospitalization because of nontraumatic hip fractures has decreased by 60% during the last 15 years, suggesting that we as rheumatologists dealing with patients with osteoporosis have made fantastic advances in this area. We have learned a lot of new potential treatment modalities, and it is amazing how many abstracts were presented dealing with biologics for rheumatic disorders -- more than 500 abstracts dealing with more than 14 different biologics, in more than 6 different potential diseases.
We have learned, for example, IL-1 [interleukin-1] inhibition in rare diseases, such as the Sinker syndrome or the Muckle-Wells syndrome; IL-1 inhibition in gout, as another example; but also new potential treatment modalities, including several targets -- such as the B lymphocytes, the T lymphocytes.
In the field of ankylosing spondylitis, there is plenty of new information, in particular the role of MRI in the diagnosis and the monitoring of ankylosing spondylitis. During this meeting, there was a parallel group assessment in ankylosing spondylitis during which participants discussed the new criteria for the recognition of ankylosing spondylitis, emphasizing, again, the role of MRI in this disorder.
Finally, but not least, there were many other presentations on inflammatory rheumatic disease, which are probably the special interest of European rheumatology; we are embracing not only rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, but other diseases -- such as osteoarthritis, tendinitis, and back pain -- but that is another story.
This feature requires the newest version of Flash. .
This feature requires the newest version of Flash. You can download it here.
Take this Commentary with you!
Download this Commentary as an MP3 and load it onto your iPod or other portable audio player.
MP3 Audio file (Right-click and select "Save Target As…" to download)
Maxime Dougados, MD: Welcome to Paris [France]. My name is Maxime Dougados. I am a rheumatologist in Paris, and I am also involved in the organization of this meeting, the EULAR 2008 meeting, which is the biggest one in terms of the number of participants. There are more than 14,000 participants coming from all around the world; in particular more than 1000 American colleagues are participating in this meeting, not only in terms of quantity, but also of quality.
It is very difficult to summarize what we have learned during this meeting from the 124 scientific sessions and educational programs. Also, not only during the scientific sessions, but in parallel to this meeting, EULAR is willing to collaborate with different societies. As an example, there were discussions in this city for a EULAR-ACR [American College of Rheumatology] collaboration to discuss different projects, different initiatives that are ongoing in the [rheumatology] field; and I am very pleased to announce that we, that is, the EULAR and ACR board, both agree -- to have a joint publication of different initiatives. You will see published in October 2008 in Arthritis Care and Research and also in Annals of Rheumatic Disease the first joint initiative [between EULAR and ACR].
Apart from this collaboration, there are many publications focusing on new treatments, modalities, new outcomes, and it is fantastic to see how rheumatology is moving all around the world.
As an example, we are now looking not only at soft endpoints, but also hard endpoints. If I take the example of osteoporosis, we have learned that in the United States the rate of hospitalization because of nontraumatic hip fractures has decreased by 60% during the last 15 years, suggesting that we as rheumatologists dealing with patients with osteoporosis have made fantastic advances in this area. We have learned a lot of new potential treatment modalities, and it is amazing how many abstracts were presented dealing with biologics for rheumatic disorders -- more than 500 abstracts dealing with more than 14 different biologics, in more than 6 different potential diseases.
We have learned, for example, IL-1 [interleukin-1] inhibition in rare diseases, such as the Sinker syndrome or the Muckle-Wells syndrome; IL-1 inhibition in gout, as another example; but also new potential treatment modalities, including several targets -- such as the B lymphocytes, the T lymphocytes.
In the field of ankylosing spondylitis, there is plenty of new information, in particular the role of MRI in the diagnosis and the monitoring of ankylosing spondylitis. During this meeting, there was a parallel group assessment in ankylosing spondylitis during which participants discussed the new criteria for the recognition of ankylosing spondylitis, emphasizing, again, the role of MRI in this disorder.
Finally, but not least, there were many other presentations on inflammatory rheumatic disease, which are probably the special interest of European rheumatology; we are embracing not only rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, but other diseases -- such as osteoarthritis, tendinitis, and back pain -- but that is another story.