Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common rheumatologic disease characterized by inflammation with a definite relationship with heart disease. Impaired immunity, chronic inflammation, genetic susceptibility, autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction, altered metabolic profile have been blamed for ischemic and non-ischemic heart diseases in RA patients. Medications used in RA treatment can also modify the risk of heart diseases by different mechanisms. Understanding the pathogenesis is essential to prevent early cardiac dysfunction in RA patients. Fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis await further elucidation. Disease management is of great importance since the cardiovascular (CV) events are known to be reduced with low disease activity. Discovery of new mechanisms will pave the way for the development of novel treatment modalities. This review highlights the epidemiology, pathogenesis, risk factors, diagnosis and screening methods and management of CV comorbidities in RA patients. Besides impact of RA medications and exercise on CV risk are summarized.

Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated disorder affecting about 2% of the population worldwide which is associated with significant morbidity. The disease usually presents as raised, well-demarcated erythematous plaques with adherent silvery scales. Psoriasis can appear at any age but it has two peaks occurring at 15–20 and 55–60 years of age. It affects males and females equally. Despite the multitude of investigations about psoriasis and even development of drugs with satisfactory results, its pathogenesis is not fully understood yet and its course is unpredictable. Various environmental triggers, e.g., obesity, stress and drugs may induce disease in genetically susceptible patients. Although psoriasis was considered primarily as a disease of the skin, more investigations have been revealed its systemic nature. Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) may complicate up to one-third of cases of psoriasis vulgaris (PV). Also, the association between psoriasis and a variety of other immune-mediated disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and celiac disease (CD) has been confirmed in various studies. Moreover, a growing body of evidences indicates that psoriasis shares some common histological and phenotypical properties with the spectrum of osteoimmunological diseases such as Paget’s disease of bone (PDB). Thus, exploring the common molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying psoriasis and related disorders is of paramount importance for better elucidating disease pathogenesis and designing more targeted treatments.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease of unknown origin. Although it mainly affects joints, it can have extra-articular manifestations, with the lung being one of the most affected organs. The estimated incidence of diffuse interstitial lung disease (ILD) is 4 cases to 4.5 cases/1000 patient-years. The most common forms are usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (NSIP; 44–46% and 33–44%, respectively), although there have been reports of cases involving all the histopathologic forms described for the disease. RA-ILD is associated with specific risk factors, such as male sex, older age, smoking, and positive rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) levels. The clinical course of ILD ranges from asymptomatic forms to rapidly progressive disease in a minority of cases. It has been estimated that the risk of death is up to 3-fold higher in patients with RA-ILD than in those without ILD, making RA-ILD the second most common cause of death after cardiovascular disease. Treatment of RA has improved considerably in recent years with the advent of biologics; however, the use of these agents has been restricted in patients with ILD owing to safety concerns. Many doubts continue to surround the treatment of patients with RA-ILD. Therefore, the objective of this review is to examine the current management of affected patients in terms of diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) are diseases with inflammatory involvement of the axial skeleton that can result in new bone formation that may lead to total ankylosis of the spine and functional impairment of different extent in individual patients. In these diseases, the new bone formation may lead to total ankylosis of the spine and impaired mobility with functional impairment. This review will highlight the similarities and differences of these two conditions. In axSpA, the genetic background with the association with human leukocyte antigen-B27 (HLA-B27) is known for 50 years, while in DISH, a genetic contribution is not yet proven. The phenotype of new bone formation and its anatomic features are different between these diseases. In axSpA symmetric, thin and marginal syndesmophytes representing an ossification of enthesitic inflammation at the area of the attachment of the annulus fibrosus that may extend to the adjacent deeper layers anterior longitudinal ligament and are typical, while in DISH the so-called “chunky bridging osteophytes” grow as an additional layer on the anterior longitudinal ligament. Besides distinct anamnestic and clinical features, magnetic resonance imaging is helpful differentiating the two diseases since inflammatory changes with the typical pattern of axSpA are reliably visualized. Similar in both diseases is the high prevalence of vertebral fractures, which are mainly caused by the local osteoporosis and decreased flexibility of the affected bones, and therefore may occur even after minor traumata. The presence of extraarticular manifestations like uveitis, inflammatory bowel disease or psoriasis are only linked to axSpA. In contrast, DISH is associated with obesity, diabetes mellitus, and other metabolic diseases. Although DISH and axSpA are distinct conditions, the cooccurrence of these two diseases exists in some patients. Various therapeutic options are becoming available for axSpA, but no therapy has been approved for DISH yet.

Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) is a rare malignancy with a high incidence. Early diagnosis can reduce the rate of amputations and increase survival, however, this is typically delayed. The diagnosis and treatment of smaller lesions have a better prognosis; nonetheless, patients present to physicians when the soft tissue mass is large with obvious signs of red flags. In addition, the symptoms of this disease are highly non-specific and overlap greatly with benign conditions, resulting in a lack of clinical suspicion and low awareness among practitioners and the general public. Thusly, it is entitled as “the loneliest cancer”. This can make an accurate diagnosis difficult, with a great proportion of misdiagnoses leading subsequent inadvertent to incomplete STS excision, affecting the overall prognosis of the disease and devastating consequences in the disease process. A timely and precise diagnosis is essential because half of people with STS progress toward quietly aggressive illness. The purpose of this review is to raise awareness of STSs so that early recognition, accurate work-up, overview of conventional treatment plans, and appropriate referral to a tumor center can be achieved, avoiding whoop situations, and improving patient outcomes. In addition, insight into the advances in immunotherapy, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence (AI) can lead to STS diagnosis and treatment prognosis.

In this review article, newborn hip screening experience in Türkiye was summarized. The nationwide newborn hip screening program was officially initiated in 2013. The program currently includes the ultrasonographic examination of the hips of almost all newborns within the first two months of life. The rate of minor surgical interventions (closed/open reduction and casting) was 0.47 per 1,000 live births in 2015 and was 0.89 per 1,000 live births in 2020. Thus, an increase of 89% in the rate of minor surgical interventions was observed. The rate of major surgical interventions (pelvic/femoral osteotomies) was 0.74 per 1,000 live births in 2015 and was 0.21 per 1,000 live births in 2020. Thus, a decrease of 72% in the rate of major surgical interventions was observed between 2015 and 2020. While minor surgical interventions constituted about 39% of the overall surgical interventions in 2015, this ratio raised to 81% in 2020. Based on the experiences in Türkiye universal newborn ultrasonography (US) hip screening is advocated to lessen the rate of extensive surgeries in developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) during childhood and adulthood and to have as many as possible functional hips in the long-term follow-up of patients with DDH.