Update in pediatric rheumatology [Actualización en reumatología pediátrica]

In recent decades many advances in paediatric rheumatology have been achieved, in particular in classification, outcome measurements, and therapeutic regimens. In particular, the collaborative effort of multicenter studies has helped to improve the recognition and treatment of less common rheumatic diseases in childhood. Due to a close cooperation among researchers in Europe and United States, new drugs and treatment strategies have been tried in a large number of children, with a significant amelioration of the quality of life. Nevertheless, connective tissue diseases remain a challenge for paediatric rheumatologists over the world. This review will briefly focus on some recent advances the field of pediatric rheumatology. For space constraint, we have chosen to cite those article that seemed to us more important, either from a research or from a clinical point of view, and we have concentrated our attention on juvenile idiopathic arthritis and the major connective tissue diseases (systemic lupus, dermatomyositis, and Kawasaki disease).