Professor Bhaskar Dasgupta MBE

Professor Dasgupta is a foremost exponent on giant cell arteritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and ultrasonography. He has been a visiting Professor in the Medical Technology Research Centre at ARU for several years, and is currently leading on several research projects on GCA and PMR including a landmark Delphi survey with Dr Dan Robbins to develop the GCA PMR spectrum. A future Biobank study on GCA and PMR is being developed.

Professor Dasgupta was awarded an MBE in the 2025 New Year Honours List for services to people with giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica. He won the 2016 British Society for Rheumatology Outstanding Best Practice Award for the fast track GCA pathway, awarded and hosted the BSR Travelling Fellowship from 4-8 July 2016, and was mentioned in Parliament by Sir David Amess on 21 July 2016.

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Background

Professor Dasgupta is a foremost exponent on giant cell arteritis (GCA), polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and large vessel vasculitis, and expert on vascular and MSK ultrasound. His fast track GCA pathway was awarded BSR Best Practice Award.

He has published over 400 original articles, including first report of interleukin-6 elevation in GCA PMR, GiACTA trial of tocilizumab in GCA, SAPHYR trial of sarilumab in PMR, ACR EULAR PMR Classification criteria and BSR and EULAR treatment guidelines for GCA and PMR.

He organises the prestigious Southend symposia/workshops on GCA ultrasound. He has been Head of Rheumatology at Southend University Hospital and holds professorships at Queen Mary London and Essex universities, as well as ARU.

Professor Dasgupta developed the APLAR course on Point of Care Rheumatology Ultrasound (POCRUS), a scenario and probability-based integration of rheumatology ultrasound in diagnosis of rheumatological conditions integrating MSK and vascular ultrasound.

In 2008, he helped found the PMRGCAuk, which remains the only charity dedicated to the care of conditions within the GCA-PMR spectrum of diseases.

Spoken Languages

Bengali, Hindi

Research interests

Recent research activity

GCA-PMR Spectrum
Professor Dasgupta developed and presented six propositions at the GPSD meeting held on 24 May 2024 at BMA House, attended by patient representatives and PMRGCAuk charity representatives as well as clinicians in rheumatology, internal medicine and private practice. Co-chaired by Chrstian Dejaco, speakers were Dasgupta, Sebastian, Khurshid, Van der Geest, Tomelleri, Dejaco, Diamantopoulos, Coath and Mackie. The synopsis was presented at EULAR GCA PMR study group in Vienna in June 2024.

The Delphi survey has been approved by ARU Ethics Committee (Principal Co-Investigators Dr Dan Robbins, Bhaskar Dasgupta). It is now out for the first round feedback. It is estimated that 3-5 rounds may be necessary for consensus building, Abstract with preliminary results will be submitted to EULAR2025 and other national and international meetings. A pre-congress workshop is planned for APLAR 2025, Fukuoka, in September, to assimilate Takayasu arteritis within the spectrum.

Point-of-care rheumatology ultrasound: POCRUS

The APLAR course on POCRUS (salivary gland ultrasound together with MSK and vascular ultrasound into rheumatology ultrasound) concluded in 2023. Since then, there have been two related publications (listed below), and POCRUS workshops have been held 2024 in Dubai (twice), Kuwait City, Krakow, Poland (twice), Bengaluru, Kolkata India, Leeds and Edinburgh. POCRUS is becoming rapidly the norm for ultrasound teaching and training. A POCRUS study for suspected gout is already running in UAE.

Qualifications

• Fellow of Royal College of Physicians, 1998
• MD (General Medicine) 1982, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
• MBBS 1978, Jawaharlal Institute, Pondicherry, University of Madras

Memberships, editorial boards

• Founder/President, PMRGCAuk
• Patron, PMRGCA Scotland
• Organiser of international symposia and imaging workshop on PMR, GCA, large vessel vasculitis. Opening speaker at EULVIC, Innsbruck from 2018-2023; Organiser International conference GPSD 2024. Convenor BSR courses on MSK ultrasound.

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

Lead for the first BSR guidelines on PMR and GCA 2009, 2010; Lead for new concept GCA PMR Spectrum Disease (GPSD) published Nature Reviews Rheum 2023; speaker in numerous international meetings and workshops.

Lead 2012 EULAR ACR classification criteria and 2015 EULAR ACR PMR Guidelines; Lead and senior author BSR GCA guidelines update published 2020.

First author of first report on interleukin-6 elevation in GCA and PMR (1990); co-author landmark GCA tocilizumab trial GiACTA, published NEJM 2017 and follow-on papers; co-author landmark PMR Sarilumab trial SAPHYR (NEJMM October 2023) and follow-on papers; BSR Lead NICE approval of tocilizumab in GCA (editorial 2018) and post NICE report on TCZ in GCA (2020).

Pioneered fast track GCA pathway with cost effective reduction sight loss (2015); 2016 Outstanding BSR Best Practice Award for fast track pathway; official NHS guideline 2022; House of Lords debate (Hansard 2014), parliamentary mention by Sir David Amess (Hansard 2016); appeared on BBC2 flagship programme Trust me, I’m a Doctor on fast track pathway February 2017. Fast track GCA model now accepted across the world.

UK Chief Investigator for several other GCA and RA (GiACTA, Mavrilumab in GCA, SIRRESTA, Sirukumab in PMR, Sarilumab in GCA and PMR, Upadacitinb in GCA, Abatacept in GCA). Co-author R4RA trial (Lancet manuscripts 2021, 2023).

Developed probability based iltrasound driven diagnostic GCA algorithm: Southend Probability Score (2019); algorithm report (2020), co-author EULAR recommendation on LVV and imaging in clinical practice 2017, 2018, 2023; Southend ultrasound Halo score (2020), monitoring, prognosis of GCA (HAS GCA study concluded, prediction tool HAS GCA score published Lancet Rheumatology.

Selected recent publications

Dejaco, C., Ramiro, S., Bond, M., Bosch, P., Ponte, C., Mackie, S. L., Bley, T. A., Blockmans, D., Brolin, S., Bolek, E. C., Cassie, R., Cid, M. C., Molina-Collada, J., Dasgupta, B., Nielsen, B. D., De Miguel, E., Direskeneli, H., Duftner, C., Hočevar, A., Molto, A., Schäfer, V. S., Seitz, L., Slart, R. H. J. A. and Schmidt, W. A. (2024) 'EULAR recommendations for the use of imaging in large vessel vasculitis in clinical practice: 2023 update', , 83(6), pp. 741-751. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/ard-2023-22454. PMID: 37550004

Dejaco, C., Kerschbaumer, A., Aletaha, D., Bond, M., Hysa, E., Camellino, D., Ehlers, L., Abril, A., Appenzeller, S., Cid, M. C., Dasgupta, B., Duftner, C., Grayson, P. C., Hellmich, B., Hočevar, A., Kermani, T. A., Matteson, E. L., Mollan, S. P., Neill, L., Ponte, C., Salvarani, C., Sattui, S. E., Schmidt, W. A., Seo, P., Smolen, J. S., Thiel, J., Toro-Gutiérrez, C. E., Whitlock, M. and Buttgereit F. (2024) 'Treat-to-target recommendations in giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica', Ann Rheum Dis. 83(1), pp. 48-57. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/ard-2022-223429. PMID: 36828585

Sebastian, A., van der Geest, K. S. M., Tomelleri, A., Macchioni, P., Klinowski, G., Salvarani, C., Prieto-Peña, D., Conticini, E., Khurshid, M., Dagna, L., Brouwer, E. and Dasgupta, B. (2024) 'Development of a diagnostic prediction model for giant cell arteritis by sequential application of Southend Giant Cell Arteritis Probability Score and ultrasonography: a prospective multicentre study', Lancet Rheumatol. 6(5), e291-e299. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(24)00027-4. PMID: 38554720

Ciechomska, A. D., Chaturvedi, V., Thabah, M., Ikeda, K., Wakefield, R. J. and Dasgupta, B. (2024) 'Integrating point-of-care ultrasound into rheumatology practice', Pol Arch Intern Med., 134(10), 16815. Available at: https://doi.org/10.20452/pamw.16815. PMID: 39078381

Borrego-Yaniz, G., Ortiz-Fernández, L., Madrid-Paredes, A., Kerick, M., Hernández-Rodríguez, J., Mackie, S. L., Vaglio, A., Castañeda, S., Solans, R., Mestre-Torres, J., Khalidi, N., Langford, C. A., Ytterberg, S., Beretta, L., Govoni, M., Emmi, G., Cimmino, M. A., Witte, T., Neumann, T., Holle, J., Schönau, V., Pugnet, G., Papo, T., Haroche, J., Mahr, A., Mouthon, L., Molberg, Ø., Diamantopoulos, A. P., Voskuyl, A., Daikeler, T., Berger, C. T., Molloy, E. S., Blockmans, D., van Sleen, Y., Iles, M., Sorensen, L., Luqmani, R., Reynolds, G., Bukhari, M., Bhagat, S., Ortego-Centeno, N., Brouwer, E., Lamprecht, P., Klapa, S., Salvarani, C., Merkel, P. A., Cid, M. C., González-Gay, M. A., Morgan, A. W., Martin, J., Márquez, A., Spanish GCA Group, UK GCA Consortium, Vasculitis Clinical Research Consortium (2024) 'Risk loci involved in giant cell arteritis susceptibility: a genome-wide association study', Lancet Rheumatol. 6(6), e374-e383. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2665-9913(24)00064-X. PMID: 38734017

Salvarani, C., Padoan, R., Iorio, L., Tomelleri, A., Terrier, B., Muratore, F. and Dasgupta, B. (2024) 'Subclinical giant cell arteritis in polymyalgia rheumatica: Concurrent conditions or a common spectrum of inflammatory diseases?', Autoimmun Rev. 23(1), 103415. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2023.103415. PMID: 37625672

Lee, A., Kong, K. O., Chew, L. C., Ikeda, K., Abogamal, A., Balint, P. V., Harifi, G., Khurshid, M. A., Lai, K. L., Lee, K. G., Wakefield, R. J. and Dasgupta B. (2024) 'Enhancing rheumatology training: The POCRUS model for integrating ultrasound into clinical practice. (From APLAR imaging SIG)', Int J Rheum Dis. 27(6), e15225. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1756-185X.15225. PMID: 38874334

Conticini, E., Falsetti, P., Al Khayyat, S. G., Grazzini, S., Baldi, C., Bellisai, F., Gentileschi, S., Bardelli, M., Fabiani, C., Cantarini, L., Dasgupta, B. and Frediani, B. (2024) 'Diagnostic accuracy of OGUS, Southend halo score and halo count in giant cell arteritis', Front Med11, 1320076. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2024.1320076. PMID: 38343643

Cimmino, M. A., Crowson, C. S., Dasgupta, B., Schirmer, M., Dejaco, C., Salvarani, C., Matteson, E. L. and Camellino, D. (2024) 'Symptom Severity and Glucocorticoid Dosing in Patients With Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Obesity', J Rheumatol., jrheum.2024-0353. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3899/jrheum.2024-0353. PMID: 39486856

Chatzigeorgiou, C., Barrett, J. H., Martin, J., Morgan, A. W., Mackie, S. L.; UK GCA Consortium (2024) 'Estimating overdiagnosis in giant cell arteritis diagnostic pathways using genetic data: genetic association study', Rheumatology, 63(8), pp. 2307-2313. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kead643. PMID: 38048604

Samson, M., Dasgupta, B., Sammel, A. M., Salvarani, C., Pagnoux, C., Hajj-Ali, R., Schmidt, W. A. and Cid, M. C. (2024) 'Targeting interleukin-6 pathways in giant cell arteritis management: A narrative review of evidence', Autoimmun Rev. 103716. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2024.103716. PMID: 39644981

Recent presentations and conferences

2024

• POCRUS workshop, Kolkata, 12-14 January
• PMRGCA study group, 24 January
• APICON, New Delhi, 22-24 February
• ESRAM, Dubai, 29 February-1 March
• MTRC seminar, ARU, 3 April
• Ultrasound workshop, Kuwait City, 28 April
• POCRUS MIRCIM, Krakow, 8-9 May
• GPSD day, London, 24 May
• EULAR study group and PMR symposium, Vienna, 13-14 June
• APLAR workshop and LVV talk, Singapore, 22-23 August
• MTRC annual conference, ARU, 5 September
• GCA course and workshop, Leeds, 11 September
• POCRUS workshop Polish Rheum AGM, Krakow, 23-26 September
• Wales Treat to Target GCA meeting, 10-11 October
• GCA & PMR lectures, Turkish annual meeting, Fetiya, 26-27 October
• POCRUS workshop, IRACON 2024, Bengaluru, India, 22-24 November
• Scottish ultrasound group course (SRUG), Edinburgh, 4-5 December/li>