May is Lupus Awareness Month in Canada, an important opportunity to raise awareness about the realities of living with lupus and the need for more comprehensive, patient-centred care. As part of ACE’s special Lupus Awareness Month programming, Arthritis at Home is featuring programming that elevate patient experiences and highlight important gaps in lupus care.
In this episode of Arthritis At Home, we are sharing the #CRArthritis with Dr. Zahi Touma, a rheumatologist and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Toronto and University Health Network. Dr. Touma highlights best practices for cardiomyopathy monitoring in antimalarials use in systemic lupus erythematosus.
In the workshop he participated in with other specialists, he explained the importance of antimalarials such as Plaquenil in being the first line treatment for lupus. The workshop looked at ways to screen for adverse effects from Plaquenil, look for patterns, monitor retinol toxicity, and cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood, which can lead to heart failure.
About Dr. Zahi Touma
Dr. Zahi Touma is a Rheumatologist and Clinical Epidemiologist at the University of Toronto and University Health Network. His research is focused on patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and measurement science with a particular interest in the assessment of disease activity, patient reported outcomes and cognitive function.
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