E- ISSN: 2709-5533
Vol 5 / Ene - Jun [2024]
globalrheumpanlar.org
PANLAR 2024 COVERAGE
Clinical Practice Guidelines for Rheumatoid Arthritis PANLAR: A Comprehensive Approach for All
Autor: Estefanía Fajardo: Science journalist for Global Rheumatology by PANLAR, estefaniafajardod@gmail.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46856/grp.27.et185
Cite: Fajardo E. Clinical Practice Guidelines for Rheumatoid Arthritis PANLAR: A Comprehensive Approach for All | Global Rheumatology. Vol 5/ Ene - Jun [2024] Available from: https://doi.org/10.46856/grp.27.et185
Received date: March 26th / 2024
Accepted date: March 27th / 2024
Published Date: April 18th / 2024
Rheumatoid arthritis, affecting millions worldwide, has been the subject of intense research and clinical development in recent years, along with advances in treatment and identification. Through collaborative efforts, PANLAR is working on new clinical practice guidelines to address this disease and provide inputs for all healthcare system stakeholders.
In a region with disparities and difficulties in access to specialists, updating these guidelines was necessary. "PANLAR has not updated its guidelines for a little over 15 years, so it was considered that we should update them because we must take into account the particularities of Latin America in general, compared to other parts of the world," says Dr. Pedro Santos, a member of the Guideline Coordinating Committee, explaining that, after the review processes and meetings, the group of general guideline coordinators, including Dr. Carlo Vinicio Caballero, Dr. Enrique Soriano, Dr. Rodrigo García Salinas, and Dr. Lorena Brance, are tasked with condensing all the information gathered after several rounds of voting with the experts selected by PANLAR who are part of the Rheumatoid Arthritis and Centers of Excellence in RA groups.
"We started with a literature review by the Research Unit, and later they sent us the PICO questions to meet in different virtual sessions with invited specialists from all over America." Thus began the process of structuring these new Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Practice Guidelines from PANLAR, as Dr. Santos recounts.
"The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has changed a lot in the last 15 years, many therapies have been developed, especially biological ones, more than 10 or 12 biological technologies have entered the market, apart from biosimilars, and from there important research questions have emerged, for example, which one to start with, when to switch from one molecule to another, among others. So, this will be reflected in the clinical practice guideline, all these research questions," he says.
Articulated work with new approaches
In the process, the next step will be for the collected information to be sent to the rheumatologists who are part of the guideline development project, who are the experts invited to the guideline, and with that, it is finalized, "leaving the arduous task of drafting the manuscript for publication."
One of the differentiating elements that will be seen in the guideline is that "within these, we will have some fundamental principles, and we will have a whole series of definitions so that even those who are not doctors can understand a little better."
For example, it will be defined what disease activity is or what a center of excellence in rheumatoid arthritis is, what is referred to as conventional treatment and biological treatment. "So, we are going to have at the beginning of the guideline a series of principles, requirements, and definitions that will make reading and understanding much easier and more user-friendly," explains Dr. Santos.
On the other hand, PANLAR as an organization "has had a very important development because there are various study groups and in the case of rheumatoid arthritis, there is a study group and there is also the PANLAR rheumatoid arthritis center of excellence group which has developed an accreditation process. A Latin American patient registry for RA is also being carried out by the Research Unit, coordinated by Dr. Daniel Fernandez. This aspect, these concepts, will also be reflected in the guideline, the work of these two groups."
The progress of the guideline development will be presented at the PANLAR 2024 Congress on April 12 in the Lluvia de Oro Hall from 10:30 to 11:30 with Dr. Lorena Brance and Dr. Enrique Soriano as moderators. In this space, Dr. Brance will present 'Safety in different treatments in Latin American rheumatic patients: Preliminary data from the Latin American PANLAR Real-World Registry'; Dr. Daniel Aletaha will address 'How the changing landscape of RA is reflected in clinical practice guidelines'; and in the presentation of the PANLAR rheumatoid arthritis guideline, the speakers will be Dr. Carlo Vinicio Caballero, Dr. Rodrigo García Salinas, and Dr. Pedro Santos Moreno.
To learn more about the event program taking place from April 10 to 13 in Barranquilla, visit here: https://congreso-panlar.com/en
