It’s Important to Get The Right Diagnosis and Care for Painful Autoimmune Conditions

Many rheumatologic diseases are difficult to sort out in the beginning. New York Times medical writer, Jane Brody, describes polymyalgia, an inflammatory disease affecting muscles and connective tissue in the shoulder/pelvic region, and the overlapping and more serious temporal or giant cell arteritis, involving blood vessels to the scalp and the eyes with potential risk of blindness. Talk to your primary care physician and consider seeing a rheumatologist if you have these symptoms.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/well/live/arteritis-autoimmune-conditions.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fwell&action=click&contentCollection=well%C2%AEion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

 

#MainLineRheumatology  #inflammatorydisease #arteritis #rheumatologist

New Hours!

To accommodate our patients, Main Line Rheumatology has increased its hours to better serve you!

LANKENAU MEDICAL CENTER
Monday 9am – 5:30pm
Tuesday and Wednesday 8am- 4pm
Thursday 9am – 4pm
Friday 8am- 4pm

MAIN LINE HEALTH CENTER, Broomall
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday  9am – 4pm

Living with RA. Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way!

Here are the hands of an 83-year-old patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Dr. Gary Gordon says that RA does not have to be as debilitating a condition, as you might think. Watch what this patient does with this telephone book; it’s a true testament to motivation and RA treatment!

Video of 83-year-old patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

ACTH

The drug, ACTH, has been clinically available for many years as ACTHar gel and works well for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, polymyositis and sarcoid. Because it was an “orphan drug” used for infantile paralysis and seizures, it was essentially unaffordable. The manufacturer now provides it at no cost, in some cases; some insurance companies cover it as well. A presentation on ACTHar gel was made this month, June 2019, at the European League Against RA (EULAR) annual meeting. Ask your rheumatologist if this drug is appropriate for you.

Repository Corticotropin Injection Appears To Be Generally Safe, Effective In Patients With Persistently Active RA Who Are Nonresponsive To DMARDs Or Corticosteroids, Study Suggests MedPage Today (6/17, Susman) reports, “Repository corticotropin injection (H.P. Acthar Gel) appeared to be generally safe and effective in patients with persistently active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who were nonresponsive to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or corticosteroids,” research indicated. The findings “of the manufacturer-sponsored study” were presented at the EULAR 2019 Congress.

Main Line Rheumatology Welcomes New Staff Rheumatologist, Hyon Ju Park, MD

Philadelphia, PA May 9, 2019… Main Line Rheumatology is excited to announce that we have added Hyon Ju Park, MD, to our staff of rheumatologists. Dr. Park has an impressive resume. She is board-certified in rheumatology and internal medicine, and certified in clinical densitometry (bone density studies).  Dr. Park graduated Columbia University in 2003 with a degree in biochemistry, and graduated Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in 2007. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri as well as a rheumatology fellowship and additional research fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Dr. Park has been an avid contributor to medical publishing including editorials, reviews, case reports and many book chapters. She has a special interest in lupus, vasculitis, and periodic fever syndromes.

Dr. Park is the mother of two children, and her husband is a cancer researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

Men Get Osteoporosis, Too!

Main Line Rheumatology sees many patients with osteoporosis. At least 95% are women, yet statistics looking at people over age 65, find the ratio closer to 50%. Why is that? Most women see their gynecologist for a yearly exam, and those doctors are very good about ordering DEXA (bone density) scans. There is no equivalent for men! Perhaps primary care physicians and urologists should be cautioned that men are at risk for osteoporosis as their testosterone levels fall, just the same as estrogen plummets in women after menopause. Read this informative column by Jane E. Brodey, Personal Health columunist for the New York Times, since 1976.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/well/live/men-get-osteoporosis-too.html?searchResultPosition=2

Philadelphia TOP DOCTORS 2019 Winners and Still Champions! 

CONGRATULATIONS! Philadelphia magazine awards Gary V. Gordon, MD, FACP, FACR and Thomas Harder, MD, Main Line Rheumatology, TOP DOCTORS 2019!

Main Line Rheumatology has offices at Lankenau Medical Center and Main Line Health Center, in Broomall. In addition to Dr. Gordon and Dr. Harder, our doctors, Amy Lundholm D.O. and Hyon Ju Park, MD, are both board certified in rheumatology and internal medicine. Call 610-896-8400 for an appointment. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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Your Doctor is Your Partner in Good Health!

“You have effectively given me my life and hope back, and for that I will be immensely and eternally grateful.” – A.B.

When we see a patient who is not feeling well, we listen to them very carefully, discuss, diagnose their condition, and together as “partners”, choose treatment options. Dialogue is important to achieve the best outcome.