Interview with Sarah L. Mackie, MD on Tocilizumab, steroids and the future of GCA treatment.

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[SheffieldJane]

Thank you for sharing this interview. I am fortunate to have (Sarah Mackie) her as my doctor and am very glad that she is there fighting our corner.

[winfong]

This was great. Very informative. It made me wonder who else are the experts in the field. Isn't there a Dr Gupta in the UK as well? Any others? How about outside the UK?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to winfong]

Prof Dasgupta was the first UK guru for GCA but is now retired from clinical work. Still involved in research and writing though.

Prof Mackie reckons that Prof Christian Dejaco here in South Tirol (my rheumy) is probably the top PMR expert in the world and he isn't bad at GCA either. Claire Owen in Melbourne. Australia is up there in PMR too.

[Kendrew]

Thankyou for this.

[Sharitone]

Thank you. That is really informative.🙂

[WaltzG]

Thanks really helpful

[Rugger]

Thank you. I have just arrived home from an appointment with my rheumatologist - Sarah Mackie. I am fortunate!

I had my allocation of TCZ in 2020 - 2022 (extended to 2 years at the height of the pandemic). I felt really well on it and it enabled me to get to zero pred, but 6 months later, the PMR /GCA aches and pains re-surfaced - in spite of starting MTX as a 'back-up'. I have been back on pred for 8 months and currently tapering slowly to 2.5mg. We will see if I manage to reach zero again, or stay at a low dose for as long as I need to. Sarah Mackie is happy with that.