Treating Cytokine Storm Syndrome in COVID-19 patients with glucocorticoids and tocilizumab

08/06/20 • 23 min

In this podcast, Dr. Paul Studenic speaks to Dr. Sofia Ramiro and Prof. Robert Landewé both engaged in clinical work in the Zuyderland Medical Center in the south of the Netherlands about their clinical study evaluating systemic glucocorticoids and Il-6 blockade as second-line treatment for COVID-19-associated cytokine storm syndrome. They tell the story of the set-up of a peculiar trial using historical patients treated with supportive care as controls to the ‘experimental’ treatment strategy during these unprecedented times of March and April 2020. Link to article: https://ard.bmj.com/content/79/9/1143

Link to EULAR press release: https://www.eular.org/sysModules/obxContent/files/www.eular.2015/1_42291DEB-50E5-49AE-5726D0FAAA83A7D4/eular_glucocorticoids_and_il_6_receptor_can_reduce_covid19_css_related_hospital_mortality_(002).pdf

Previous Episode

The dose dependent effect of statins on osteoporosis

Statins are some of the most commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs. They act by inhibiting HMG-CoA reductase, the main enzyme in the synthesis of cholesterol. Earlier studies have shown that statins have an osteoprotective effect: a recently published paper has shown that there is a dose-dependent relationship between different kinds of statins with diagnosis of osteoporosis. "We could find an underrepresentation of osteoporosis in low-dose and an overrepresentation in high-dose statin treatment," says first author Dr. Michael Leutner, MSc PhD (Department of Internal Medicine 3, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Medical University of Vienna), who discusses the details of his study with Dr. Paul Studenic in this podcast.

Read the paper: https://ard.bmj.com/content/78/12/1706

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Read the paper: ard.bmj.com/content/78/9/1242