Diagnosing EGPA: Recognizing Signs and Symptoms of the Disease

This activity is part of a series

Faculty

Michael E. Wechsler, MD, MMSc
Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Director, The Cohen Family Asthma Institute
National Jewish Health
Denver, CO
Michael E. Wechsler, MD, MMSc

Michael E. Wechsler is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at National Jewish Health (NJH) in Denver, Director of the NJH/Cohen Family Asthma Institute, and Associate Vice President for Innovation and Industry Relations at NJH. In addition to clinical work in pulmonary and critical care medicine, Professor Wechsler’s research focuses on clinical and translational asthma with emphasis on clinical trials in asthma, novel asthma therapies, bronchial thermoplasty, asthma pharmacogenomics, and management of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (i.e. Churg-Strauss Syndrome). He has led studies focusing on novel biologic agents for asthma and related diseases, including benralizumab, dupilumab, mepolizumab, reslizumab, and tezepelumab. He has published more than 270 peer-reviewed manuscripts relating to asthma, EGPA, and eosinophilic lung diseases. He was a member of the Steering Committee and site Principal Investigator (PI) of the NIH-sponsored Asthma Clinical Research Network (ACRN, now called AsthmaNet), a multicenter asthma clinical trials consortium, and currently serves as the PI of the Denver site of the Precision Intervention in Severe/Exacerbating Asthma (PRECISE) network. A member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, he has participated in many different task forces related to the study of eosinophilic lung diseases that were sponsored by the NIH, the FDA, the European Respiratory Society, and the International Eosinophil Society. He is currently Associate Editor of the journal Chest and has served as Associate Editor of the journal Allergy and on the editorial board of the European Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Dr. Wechsler received AB and MMSc degrees from Harvard University in Boston and an MD degree from McGill University in Montreal. He completed medical training at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, and as part of the Harvard Combined Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Training Program.</br.

Anisha B. Dua, MD, MPH
Associate Professor
Fellowship Program Director
Director of Vasculitis Center
Division of Rheumatology
Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Chicago, IL
Anisha B. Dua, MD, MPH

Anisha B. Dua MD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology, Rheumatology Fellowship Program Director, and Director of the Northwestern Vasculitis Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Dr. Dua’s interests are in rheumatology education and vasculitis. She completed her Rheumatology fellowship at Rush University as well as fellowships in Medical Education at The University of Chicago and Integrative Medicine at Northwestern.

Dr. Dua currently leads a multidisciplinary team in the clinical management of vasculitis patients. She assisted in the development of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Guideline for the Treatment and Management of Vasculitis, is on the Board of Directors for the Vasculitis Foundation, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for the Rheumatology Research Foundation. She is the chair of the e-learning Subcommittee and co-chair of the Workforce Solutions Committee, Virtual Training Programs for the ACR. She has served in leadership capacities both locally and nationally through the American College of Rheumatology, the Vasculitis Foundation, and the ACGME in the areas of education as well as vasculitis. You can follow her on twitter @anisha_dua

Statement of Need

Eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) is one of the rarest forms of vasculitis with primary manifestations of moderate-to-severe asthma and peripheral eosinophilia.  While early diagnosis can prevent cumulative organ damage, lack of disease awareness and overlap of symptoms with other common conditions often results in delayed recognition of EGPA. Earlier diagnosis can prevent the cumulative organ damage that results from vascular inflammation and eosinophil-dense tissue deposits associated with EGPA. Identification of EGPA requires a high index of suspicion, and conditions with features of eosinophilia and vasculitis need to be ruled out before a diagnosis of EGPA is confirmed. The diagnosis of EGPA relies primarily on the presence of clinical characteristics, as no highly specific or sensitive validated diagnostic tests for EGPA currently exist.

During this 30-minute CMEO Snack, Drs. Wechsler and Dua will identify best practices and current guidelines for the clinical evaluation and differential diagnosis of EGPA. Using a case presentation to frame the discussion, faculty will explain the differential diagnosis of EGPA as well as how to integrate diagnostic methods and interpret results.

Learning Objective

Upon completion of this activity, learners will be better able to identify best practices and current guidelines for the clinical evaluation and differential diagnosis of EGPA.

Financial Support

This educational activity is supported by an educational grant from GSK.

Target Audience

Physicians, physician associates (PAs), nurse practitioners (NPs), nurses, and pharmacists specializing in rheumatology, allergy/immunology, pulmonology, nephrologist, internal medicine, and primary care medicine

Credit Information

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Activity UAN: JA0007185-0000-23-021-H01-P

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Dr. Wechsler reports the following financial relationships:

Advisory Board/Consultant: Amgen Inc.; AstraZeneca; Avalo Therapeutics, Inc.; Boehringer Ingelheim; Cerecor Inc.; Cohero Health, Inc.; CytoReason LTD; Eli Lilly and Company; Equillium Bio; GSK; Incyte; Kinaset Therapeutics; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Om Pharma; Phylaxis Bioscience, LLC; PULMATRiX, Inc.; RAPT Therapeutics; Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Restorbio; Roche/Genentech, Inc.; Sanofi/Genzyme.; Sentien Biotechnologies, Inc.; Sound Biologics; Tetherex Pharmaceuticals; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; and Upstream Bio

Research Support: Amgen Inc.; AstraZeneca; Avalo Therapeutics, Inc.; GSK; Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.; and Sanofi/Genzyme

Speakers Bureau: AstraZeneca; GSK; Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.; and Sanofi


Dr. Dua reports the following financial relationships:

Advisory Board and Consultant: AbbVie Inc.; ChemoCentryx, Inc. (Amgen); Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; and Sanofi


Disclosures were obtained from the CME Outfitters, LLC staff: No disclosures to report:

  • Michael Franks, APRN, AGACNP-BC, FNP-BC (peer reviewer)
  • Thomas Mitchell (planning committee)
  • Kasey Brandt, PharmD (planning committee)
  • Susan H. Yarbrough, CHCP (planning committee)
  • Sandra Caballero, PharmD (planning committee)
  • Sharon Tordoff (planning committee)

Faculty of this CE activity may include discussions of products or devices that are not currently labeled for use by the FDA. The faculty have been informed of their responsibility to disclose to the audience if they will be discussing off-label or investigational uses (any uses not approved by the FDA) of products or devices.

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SN-182-032723-06

Diagnosing EGPA: Recognizing Signs and Symptoms of the Disease
Event Date: 03/27/2023