Altoona Arthritis & Clinical Research Center
NEWSLETTER | JANUARY 2023
IT’S A NEW YEAR & THERE’S NEW THINGS AT OUR OFFICE
COVID VACCINE
We have received many calls from patients expressing their concerns and questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Per Dr. Kivitz, our “...doctors are not aware of any circumstance whereby any of our diseases or the medicines and biologics we use to treat would prevent them from receiving the vaccine.” If you do have additional questions regarding this please call the office at 814-693-0300.
NEW OFFICE OPPORTUNITIES
At the start of every month, the first Friday of each month, our office has a “Jean’s Day” where staff members are able to wear jeans and pay a donation which goes to local charities or families that are in need in our area. For 2020 we collected a total of $2,868 that went to local charities or families in need. We also collected blankets/slipper socks/and other comfort items for residents of local nursing homes during the holiday season.
NEW STUDIES
DO YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW SUFFER FROM PAINFUL KNEE’S DUE TO OSTEOARTHRITIS?
DO YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW SUFFER FROM DRY EYES AND DRY MOUTH? YOU MAY HAVE SJORGEN’S SYNDROME
DO YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAVE ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS?
Tracking Disease Activity in Inflammatory Arthritis
Learn how doctors determine if your disease is progressing or improving your rheumatologist is treating you for inflammatory arthritis. But how do you know the treatment’s working? That’s easy. You have less pain, and your doctor can see your joints aren’t as swollen. That’s been the traditional approach – using a combination of clinical judgment and patient self reports to track disease activity. But with more complex regimens and an emphasis on treating to pre-determined targets, doctors increasingly rely on sophisticated measurement tools instead. Some studies suggest these tools may do a better job of getting patients to remission. But there’s a problem. Many were developed for clinical studies and may be too expensive and time-consuming for regular use, so researchers are trying to make the tools friendlier. Interestingly, the modifications look a lot like the old way of doing things since many give primary importance to patient input.
FEATURED LOCAL BUSINESSES
FEATURED LOCAL BUSINESSES
Rheumatoid Arthritis
The American College of Rheumatology recommends six tools for measuring disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). They fall into three main categories:
Patient questionnaires. Some, like the visual analog scale (VAS) ask you to rate your pain. Others
ask how much trouble you have performing daily activities, like dressing or bathing.
Joint counts. The most common of these tests is DAS28, which generates a disease activity score
based the degree of swelling and inflammation in 28 different joints.
Lab tests. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) measure body-wide
inflammation.
Most ACR measurement tools include something from each of the three categories. The data are plugged into a formula that produces a number that shows how well your disease is controlled. If your score goes up, it means your disease activity is worse and it may be time to change your treatment. Susan Goodman, MD, a rheumatologist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, says three of the tools – DAS28, RAPID3 and simplified disease activity index (SDAI) – are used most often RAPID3, a patient questionnaire, takes just seconds to score and may be as accurate as more complicated measures.
Knee Pain Study, Now Enrolling
Clinical trials are research studies that explore whether a medical strategy, treatment, or device is safe and effective for humans. These studies also may show which medical approaches work best for certain illnesses or groups of people. Clinical trials produce the best data available for healthcare decision making.
If you’re interested in seeing if you quality for one of our studies, click the call, text, or email button below to enroll.
Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA)
PsA is much more complex than RA. It not only attacks the joints, but also can affect your skin, spine, nails, eyes and ligaments. Disease activity measures that encompass such a broad range of symptoms have been challenging to develop, and the most common ones have limitations. For example, the Disease Activity Index for Psoriatic Arthritis (DAPSA) is relatively easy to use but doesn’t include skin symptoms – one of the hallmarks of psoriatic arthritis. The Psoriatic Arthritis Disease Activity Score (PASDAS) is complicated and requires that patients fill out a lengthy questionnaire. Allan Gibofsky, MD, a professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, says measures like these, often developed for clinical trials, “are not as meaningful in clinical practice.” The solution may be a new, short patient questionnaire called Psoriatic Arthritis Impact of Disease (PsAID). It’s a simple way of looking at the effect of arthritis on a person’s life. Patients rate 12 physical and psychological factors, including skin problems, weight, pain and fatigue on a 10-point scale. A higher score reliably indicates worse disease activity.
Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)
Like PsA, symptoms in AS vary widely and can include eye and bowel inflammation, heart disease and fatigue. Many rheumatologists think the best measure of disease activity in AS is the ankylosing spondylitis disease activity score (ASDAS). It combines patient self-reports on back pain, stiffness and swollen joints with an inflammation marker such as CRP or ESR. Most patients can answer the four questions in less than a minute and scoring is simple. Imaging tests like MRI and X-rays shouldn’t be used to monitor AS activity, but some researchers recommend that patients with AS have routine electrocardiograms to check for early heart disease. —Tracking Disease Activity in Inflammatory Arthritis | Arthritis Foundation
Blackened Salmon with avocado salsA
Ingredients for Blackened Salmon:
1 tablespoon oil
4 (6 ounce) pieces salmon
4 teaspoons cajun seasoning
For the avocado salsa:
2 avocado, diced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon lime juice
salt to taste
Directions for Blackened Salmon:
For the blackened salmon:
Heat the oil in a heavy bottom skillet over medium-high heat, add the salmon, seasoned with the cajun seasoning, and cook until deeply golden brown to slightly blackened before flipping and repeating for the other side.
For the avocado salsa:
Mix everything and enjoy on the salmon! - Blackened Salmon with Avocado Salsa
PROVIDER HIGHLIGHT
Angie (Physician Assistant) PA-C
Angie joined the team of amazing Advanced Practice Providers (APP’s) in June of 2003 as a Physician Assistant. As a Physician Assistant (PA), Angie works directly with patients to conduct physical exams, orders labs and imaging tests, and evaluates and interprets the results of the ordered tests. All of these routine aspects of Angie’s job allows her to get a basis for what the patient is experiencing, which ultimately leads her to develop a diagnosis for each individual patient and to then treat their individual condition, including prescribing medications as therapeutic and treatment measures. Angie also works within the clinical research aspect of the Altoona Center for Clinical Research where she performs physical exams, as well as specific joint counts for diseases like osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout, etc.
Being able to be involved in the many clinical trials that she has is one of the aspects of her job that Angie is very proud of. She has seen the benefit to seeing medications that started out in the clinical trial phase here in our office go the whole way through the approval process and be widely available on the market today to treat various forms of arthritis. Angie truly enjoys her work as a PA. When you ask her what she enjoys most about her job on a day-to-day basis she explains that it is, “the rewarding nature of my occupation. Knowing that I am helping patients. Seeing how much progress I have made over time in patient’s care.” During her 20 years with the Altoona Arthritis & Osteoporosis Center Angie has been able to see the progress that each patient has made towards functioning better and having an improved quality of life.
Angie is also grateful for the amazing work family and friendships she has gained during her time here. She feels very fortunate to work with such a “tight knit” group that will pull together and support one another in times of need.
In her free time, Angie enjoys spending time with her husband and their two children. She enjoys spending time outside, biking and traveling whenever possible.
