Objective: To develop guidance on the use of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD).Methods: The Canadian Rheumatology Association (CRA) formed a multidisciplinary panel including rheumatologists, researchers, methodologists, vaccine experts, and patients. The panel used the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) approach. Outcomes were prioritized according to their importance for patients and clinicians. Evidence from the COVID-19 clinical trials was summarized. Indirect evidence for non–COVID-19 vaccines in ARD was also considered. The GRADE evidence-to-decision (EtD) framework was used to develop a recommendation for the use of the 4 COVID-19 vaccines approved in Canada as of March 25, 2021 (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, ChAdOx1, and Ad26.COV2.S), over 4 virtual panel meetings.Results: The CRA guideline panel suggests using COVID-19 vaccination in persons with ARD. The panel unanimously agreed that for the majority of patients, the potential health benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential harms in people with ARDs. The recommendation was graded as conditional because of low or very low certainty of the evidence on the effects in the population of interest, primarily due to indirectness and imprecise effect estimates. The panel felt strongly that persons with autoimmune rheumatic diseases who meet local eligibility should not be required to take additional steps compared to people without ARDs to obtain their vaccination. Guidance on medications, implementation, monitoring of vaccine uptake, and research priorities are also provided.Conclusion: This recommendation will be updated over time as new evidence emerges, with the latest recommendation, evidence summaries, and EtD available on the CRA website.

Key message. •s.c. immunoglobulin could be effective and safe in the treatment of inflammatory myositis.

Objectives: There is no consensus on how musculoskeletal ultrasound (US), especially power Doppler (PD) positivity, should inform treatment decisions in RA. We aimed to summarize the literature on whether PD positivity can predict response to intensification of RA therapies in patients with moderate to high clinical disease activity. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed using a predefined PICO strategy. The titles and abstracts, and subsequently full texts, were independently screened and reviewed by two reviewers and any disagreement was resolved by a third investigator. Studies that investigated the predictive value of PD were included. Results: Among 2580 abstracts/titles, 13 studies were included. Studies were heterogeneous regarding the inclusion criteria, baseline and new treatments, scanned joints and follow-up duration. In eight studies, patients with higher baseline PD activity had a better response to treatment, mostly with higher reductions in clinical indices. In contrast, two studies found that the probability of achieving clinical remission decreased as the baseline PD score increased. There was no association between baseline PD and the achievement of clinical remission at the follow-up in the remaining three studies. Conclusion: The baseline Doppler severity may suggest better improvement with higher reductions in composite scores, but this may not be enough to predict a remission state. How US can be used to predict response in RA management requires a well-designed study that will need to be shaped by the existing observations, most importantly identifying the outcome measure that will also be important for daily practice.

Approximately 20% of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is diagnosed because of paraneoplastic manifestations. RCC has been associated with a large variety of paraneoplastic syndromes (PNS), but it is rarely associated with PNS vasculitis. We present a case of a previously healthy male who presented with systemic vasculitis; bitemporal headaches, diplopia, polyarthritis, palpable purpura, tongue lesion, peri-orbital edema, scleritis, chondritis and constitutional symptoms. He was subsequently found to have oligometastatic RCC. Both his primary lesion and site of oligometastasis were treated with stereotactic radiotherapy (SBRT) and resulted in the resolution of his vasculitis, as well as sustained oncologic response. This is the first case to demonstrate that effective sustained treatment for PNS vasculitis due to oligometastatic RCC is possible with SBRT.

Matriculating medical students have lower levels of burnout compared to age-matched college graduates,¹ and yet residents and practicing physicians have higher rates of burnout compared to the general population,^2,3 suggesting that medical training may play a role in increasing rates of burnout. Burnout, characterized by Maslach and Jackson as the triad of depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and loss of a sense of personal accomplishment,⁴ is well documented in physicians around the world and has been shown to be increasing over time, particularly after the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.^5,6