Renal Crisis Exclusive: SSc Expert Prof. Christopher Denton’s BSR Presentation

The BSR held its annual conference recently in Glasgow. There were 3 sessions dedicated to Systemic sclerosis, scleroderma, over the duration of the 3day conference.

Will Gregory, Ssc specialist physio, kindly shared his experience of day2 with Scleroderma News readers. To read the article, click here

The schedule for the first day-

MANAGEMENT OF VASCULAR MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SKIN, KIDNEYS AND GI TRACT IN SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS
April 26, 2016, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Clyde Auditorium
4 Presentations
11:30 – 1:00 PM – Chair
ARIANE HERRICK, Rheumatology, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UNITED KINGDOM.
11:30 – 12:00 PM – Evaluation and management of cutaneous vascular manifestations of systemic sclerosis
JOHN PAULING, Rheumatology, Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases NHS Foundation Trust, Bath, UNITED KINGDOM.
12:00 – 12:30 PM – Scleroderma renal crisis
CHRIS DENTON, Centre for Rheumatology, University College London, London, UNITED KINGDOM.
12:30 – 1:00 PM – Management of gastrointestinal vascular manifestations of systemic sclerosis
CHARLES MURRAY – Royal Free, London, UNITED KINGDOM.

Professor Christopher Denton has very kindly shared his slides of his presentation which focussed on Scleroderma renal crisis. I have edited out the ‘not so’ academic slides to provide a flavour and synopsis of the current landscape in relation to scleroderma and renal crisis, to scleroderma news readers.

It is with huge thanks to Prof. Denton for not only making his slides available, but also for the tireless dedication and commitment which he shows to the global scleroderma community, and has shown, over the last 2 decades.

From a patient perspective, I am of the view that the contents of this presentation show that the understanding of the disease as well as its complications and management have advanced immensely over the last 40 years. Which, of course, is extremely encouraging when living with this diagnosis as your day to day reality. It is very encouraging to see that, what was the biggest contributor to mortality, is now the least contributor, due to better understanding, management and treatment options available. Fibrosis of the lung, being the highest risk factor now.

I was diagnosed in 1997 with diffuse, and it was not until I changed to Prof. Dame Black and Prof. Denton at the Royal Free Hospital in London in 1998 did I discover that I had the RNA polymerase type. The fear which this knowledge brought about, at that time, is indescribable. However, 18 years later, with only the last 3 years of those being alcohol free, I am grateful to my kidneys for hanging in there!

As we know, scleroderma still remains a very mysterious anomaly in the autoimmune umbrella of diseases. With increased awareness, global unity, and global research, we are already seeing an improvement in patient management and care. Long may this continue!

And of course, huge thanks again to Prof. Denton for making this successful, encouraging evidence based medicine information available to the global Ssc community, and for all that he does for the global Ssc community.