Each year, the ACR presents a special Clinicopathologic Conference session at the Annual Meeting that features a difficult-to-diagnose case study with expert faculty guiding the audience through the step-by-step process of a differential diagnosis and the twists and turns of the patient’s course to arrive at a final diagnosis.
This year’s session, CPC: Lupus or Felis?, will showcase a complex case of what initially appeared to be systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but upon further testing was revealed to be another disease. Faculty will present the associated radiographic and pathologic features of the case and will participate in a final discussion of the ultimate diagnosis. The session will be held on Monday from 7:30 – 8:30 am in Room B312-314, Building B in the Georgia World Congress Center.
“There are many different medical conditions that can initially mimic other rheumatic diseases. Lupus, for example, can have a myriad of presentations and clinical features, making it a challenging disease for rheumatologists to diagnose and manage,” said Matthew Bunyard, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical Operations in the Department of Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases at the Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Bunyard will serve as co-moderator of the session alongside Arezou Khosroshahi, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at Emory University in Atlanta. Joining them will be colleagues of Dr. Khosroshahi’s from Emory University, who will present the details of this year’s case study.
Leslie Anne Cassidy, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, will begin with an overview of the case in question, including the initial presentation and symptoms. Eugene Berkowitz, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, will review the pulmonary radiographic features of SLE and mimics and describe the radiographic findings of the presented case. Carla Ellis, MD, MS, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, will review the pathologic features of SLE and mimics and present the pathologic findings of the case.
Finally, Prateek Gandiga, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, will conclude the session with a discussion of the case and diagnosis.
“The faculty will guide the audience through a 60-minute condensed version of what they did in real time and the stepwise manner in which they arrived at the ultimate correct diagnosis,” Dr. Bunyard said. “The goal of the session is to get the rheumatologists in the audience to think about mimics of SLE and cases they may have already seen. We hope the session will help them focus and work through tough cases in their own practices, broadening their differential diagnosis and ending with the correct conclusion.”