Rheumatoid arthritis: making the diagnosis. (Board Review)

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Rheumatoid arthritis: making the diagnosis. (Board Review).

Clinician Reviews, Feb, 2003, by Sima Terebelo

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disabling, disfiguring disease

characterized by chronic joint inflammation. Irreversible damage can

occur within months of disease onset, leading to long-term consequences

such as daily pain, increased morbidity and mortality, and significant

health care costs. Varying patient presentations in its early stages

make RA difficult to diagnose. Therefore, it is important to consider RA

in any patient presenting with polyarticular inflammation, significant

morning stiffness, and systemic signs such as weight loss, fever, and

fatigue of undetermined etiology.

Currently affecting more than two million Americans, (1) rheumatoid

arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disease primarily involving

the synovial membranes of diarthrodial joints. The annual incidence of

RA diagnosis is two to four people per 100,000. (2) Untreated, RA rarely

remits after the first year but rather progresses inexorably toward

joint destruction. (3) However, the sooner a diagnosis is made, the

earlier clinicians can take measures to subdue inflammatory disease

activity and prevent the typical debilitating joint deformities.

To read the rest of this article, please see:

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0BUY/2_13/98312962/p1/article.jhtml

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org