Browsing by Author "Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María"

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    A Pilot Study to Evaluate the Safety and Efficacy of Treprostinil in the Treatment of Calcinosis in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis
    (2020) Chung, Melody P.; Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María; Li, Shufeng; Catanese, Benjamin; Stevens, Kate; Fiorentin, David; Strand, Vibeke; Chung, Lorinda
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    Acute calcific tendinitis of the longus colli: A case report
    (2024) Turner, Valery L.; Martínez Villavicencio, Camila; Rocha González, Judith Lili; Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María
    Acute calcific longus colli tendinitis is a differential diagnosis of neck pain. Typical presentation consists in a triad of symptoms including acute onset neck pain, neck stiffness and odynophagia. Computed tomography (CT) is the gold standard for acute calcific longus colli tendinitis diagnosis and the main radiological findings include prevertebral soft tissue swelling and the presence of amorphous calcifications. The case involves a 39-year-old female who presented to the emergency department with acute unilateral cervical pain that resulted in acute calcific longus colli tendinitis.
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    Correspondence on 'Current myositis clinical trials and tribulations' by Saygin et al.
    (2024) Azevedo, Sofia Ferreira; Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María; Benitez, Cristian Alejandro; Isenberg, David A.; Naddaf, Elie; Chinoy, Hector; Vencovsky, Jiri; Gupta, Latika; McCann, Liza; Kuwana, Masataka; Dimachkie, Mazen M.; Shenoi, Susan; Saketkoo, Lesley Ann; Machado, Pedro M.
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    Development and validation of a rheumatologist satisfaction with practice scale: The rheumatologist satisfaction scale
    (2019) Sheth, Khushboo; Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María; Shoor, Stanford; Ritter, Philip L.; Lorig, Kate R.
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    Gastrointestinal Perforation in a Patient With Antinuclear Matrix Protein 2 Antibody-Positive Dermatomyositis
    (2022) Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María; Rieger, Kerri E.; Blish, Catherine A.; Chung, Lorinda; Fiorentino, David
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    Imaging assessment of calcinosis in juvenile dermatomyositis: a narrative review
    (2025) Yi, Belina Y.; Perfetto, Jessica; Rothschild, Evin; Rouster-Stevens, Kelly; Robinson, Amanda; Cook, Kathryn; Ding, Delaney D.; Eagle Child, Andrea; Cinar, Ovgu K.; Limbach, Barbara; Papadopoulou, Charalampia; Saketkoo, Lesley A.; Schiffenbauer, Adam; Schmeling, Heinrike; Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María; Shenoi, Susan; Wahezi, Dawn M.
    Calcinosis is a severe manifestation of juvenile and adult idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, which can lead to pain, limited range of motion, disfigurement, and infection. It is more common in juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, especially in juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). Calcinosis can be visible on cutaneous surfaces, although can also present in muscles and internal organs, making a thorough assessment difficult without imaging modalities. In this narrative review, we discuss different imaging modalities used in evaluating JDM-associated calcinosis including X-ray, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and ultrasound (US).
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    Osteoclastogenesis in Patients With Systemic Sclerosis With and Without Calcinosis Cutis
    (Wiley, 2025) Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María; Pérez, Guillermo; Chung, Lorinda; Sánchez, Felipe; Iturriaga Ortiz, Carolina Alejandra; Montalva, Rebeca; Borzutzky Schachter, Arturo
    Objective. We aimed to assess whether the presence of radiographically confirmed calcinosis of the hands in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) is associated with increased osteoclastogenesis. Methods. We recruited 20 patients with SSc (10 with calcinosis and 10 without calcinosis) and 10 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Hand radiographs were scored using the validated Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium (SCTC) radiographic severity score for calcinosis. To evaluate osteoclastogenesis, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were cultured with RANKL and macrophage colony-stimulating factor; osteoclasts were identified using tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase staining. Measures of bone resorption (RANKL, osteoprotegerin [OPG]) and ischemia or endothelial function (vascular endothelial growth factor, angiopoietin-1, and angiopoietin-2 [Ang-2]) were also evaluated. Results. Patients with SSc were all women and Hispanic, and the majority (n = 12, 60%) had limited SSc skin type. Mean +/- SD age was 55.2 +/- 14.8 years; mean +/- SD disease duration was 9.5 +/- 6.5 years from first non-Raynaud phenomenon symptom. Patients with SSc with calcinosis had more digital ischemia than patients without calcinosis. Median SCTC score in patients with SSc with calcinosis was 11.1 (range 0.7-286). After 9 days in culture, PBMCs from patients with calcinosis originated a significantly higher number of osteoclasts (33.0 +/- 20.3 cells/well) than patients without calcinosis (15.3 +/- 6.9 cells/well) and healthy individuals (11.2 +/- 2.6 cells/well) (P = 0.001). The severity of calcinosis was not correlated with the number of osteoclasts per well (r = 0.27, P = 0.5); however, it was correlated with RANKL (r = 0.82, P = 0.004), RANKL/OPG ratio (r = 0.86, P = 0.002), and Ang-2 levels (r = 0.86, P = 0.002). Conclusion. Calcinosis in patients with SSc is associated with an increased propensity of peripheral blood cells to form osteoclasts. Targeted inhibition of osteoclastogenesis may provide a specific therapeutic option for patients with SSc-associated calcinosis.
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    Performance of the 2017 EULAR/ACR criteria for idiopathic inflammatory myopathies in a cohort of patients from Latin America
    (2022) Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María; Torres, Magdalena; Devés Ortiz, José Domingo
    We aimed to determine the performance of the 2017 European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology (EULAR/ACR) classification criteria for idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) in a cohort of Chilean patients. This single-center retrospective study included 151 patients with a clinical diagnosis of IIM. Patients were classified according to the 2017 EULAR/ACR classification criteria for IIM, and its performance was compared to the Bohan & Peter (B&P) classification criteria. A total of 135 patients (89.4%) met the EULAR/ACR criteria, and 140 (92.7%) patients met the B&P criteria. A total of 130 patients had IIM according to both the criteria; concordance rate was 29.2% for definite IIM, 6.2% for probable IIM, and 1.5% for possible IIM. The kappa coefficient of agreement was weak between the 2 classification criteria (κ = 0.39, SD 0.15-0.64). Against gold standard expert physician's diagnosis, sensitivity, and specificity of EULAR/ACR criteria was 0.86 and 0.85 to diagnose dermatomyositis, respectively, and 0.73 and 0.87 to diagnose polymyositis. The EULAR/ACR criteria showed good sensitivity and identified more patients with probable or definite IIM than the B&P criteria in a single-center cohort of patients with IIM in South America. The sensitivity of the EULAR/ACR criteria was slightly higher in patients with dermatomyositis, but lower in patients with polymyositis, than that of the B&P criteria.
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    Scrotal Calcinosis in Juvenile Systemic Sclerosis
    (The Journal of Rheumatology, 2023) Borzutzky Schachter, Arturo; Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María
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    Subcutaneous calcinosis: Is it different between systemic sclerosis and dermatomyositis?
    (2021) Valenzuela Vergara, Antonia María; Chung, Lorinda
    Calcinosis cutis is the deposition of insoluble calcium in the skin and subcutaneous tissues. It is a manifestation of several autoimmune connective tissue diseases, most frequently with systemic sclerosis and juvenile dermatomyositis, followed by adult dermatomyositis. Autoimmune connective tissue disease-associated calcinosis is of the dystrophic subtype, which occurs at sites of damaged tissue in the setting of normal serum calcium and phosphate levels. In juvenile dermatomyositis, calcinosis is considered a marker of ongoing disease activity and possibly inadequate treatment, while in adult dermatomyositis, it is a hallmark of skin damage due to chronic rather than active disease. Calcinosis is associated with long disease duration in systemic sclerosis and dermatomyositis, anti-polymyositis/sclerosis autoantibodies in systemic sclerosis and NXP-2 and melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 in dermatomyositis. Calcinosis in systemic sclerosis occurs most frequently in the hands, particularly the fingers, whereas in dermatomyositis, it affects mainly the trunk and extremities. The primary mineral component of calcinosis is hydroxyapatite in systemic sclerosis and carbonate apatite in dermatomyositis. Calcinosis in dermatomyositis and systemic sclerosis share some pathogenic mechanisms, but vascular hypoxia seems to play a more important role in systemic sclerosis, whereas the release of calcium from mitochondria in muscle cells damaged by myopathy may be a primary mechanism contributing to dermatomyositis-related calcinosis. Multiple treatment strategies for dermatomyositis and systemic sclerosis-related calcinosis have been used with variable results. Early aggressive treatment of underlying myositis in patients with dermatomyositis may improve long-term outcomes of calcinosis. A better understanding of the pathogenesis of calcinosis is needed to improve treatment options.