LAS VEGAS – Scleroderma treatment is evolving quickly.
Newer classification criteria from the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism are helping diagnose and treat the disease earlier, and ongoing investigations are defining the proper roles of mycophenolate mofetil, cyclophosphamide, stem cell transplants, and other treatments in the disease. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation status to tocilizumab for its development as a potential treatment for scleroderma.
In an interview at the annual Perspectives in Rheumatic Diseases held by Global Academy for Medical Education, Dr. Daniel Furst, the Carl M. Pearson Professor in Rheumatology at the University of California, Los Angeles, gave a quick review of those and other recent developments and shared a few treatment pearls, including how he uses a simple skin finding to differentiate diffuse from limited disease.
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