Rheumatoid Arthritis (Subscribe)  

The goal of this panel discussion is to highlight optimal approaches to Rheumatoid Arthritis disease management involving a multidisciplinary team, to identify barriers that may lead to lack of confidence in optimally managing patients with RA, and to identify strategies to overcome such barriers.
Victoria Ruffing, RN, CCRP; Jon T. Giles,...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic disease characterized predominantly by a chronic inflammatory polyarthritis, with frequent progression to joint destruction and disability. The clinical picture seen in RA is the result of a complex cascade involving T cells, B cells, antigen-presenting cells, and a complex set of costimulation signals that...

We performed 52 cemented ankle arthroplasties for painful osteoarthritis (OA) (25) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (27) using an ankle prosthesis with a near-anatomical design.
We assessed the patients radiologically and clinically for up to 14 years using an ankle scoring system. The preoperative median scores were 29 for the OA group...

Two cases of rupture of lateral cysts which produced symptoms related to the anterolateral lower leg are reported. The difficulty of diagnosing the condition because of this unusual site of inflammation and subsequent management problems are discussed.
Anterolateral rupture of popliteal cysts in rheumatoid arthritis. Kirkham B, Churchill M, Dasgupta B,...

Clinical and x-ray images of hands, fingers and thumbs affected by rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis has many forms of presentation. This patient has bilateral severe radiocarpal and distal radioulnar joint involvement, with relative sparing of the metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints.

There are many methods to fuse interphalangeal joints. In this case, a Herbert screw was used for arthrodesis fixation of an unstable thumb interphalangeal joint. This case also demonstrates the eponychial splitting approach to the joint.

cerival spine involvement is common in Rheumatoid Arthritis (upto 90%) & is more common w/ long standing disease and multiple joint involvement; - significant subluxations will occur in about 32%

RA manifests itself in many ways in elbow joint, including nodules and bursae, synovitis, progressive joint destruction, antecubital cysts, & ulnar or, rarely posterior interosseous palsy; - note that involvement of the RA...

Synovial cysts are commonly found in the knee joint. Hip Joint is an infrequent site for formation of synovial cysts. The features of a large, synovial cyst on magnetic resonance imaging, occurring in the hip joint, are described.
Giant rheumatoid synovial cyst of the hip joint: diagnosed by MRI. Patkar D, Shah...

From the 1960’s to the mid 1980’s cemented total hip replacement was the best option for the hip joint severely destroyed by rheumatoid arthritis. Around the early 1980’s several papers reported very good long term survival of the cemented femoral components with some still functioning well at 15 year follow...

The initial presentation of RA is the foot and ankle in 16-19% of cases. In time most patients will develop symptoms in the foot and ankle. The forefoot is more likely to be involved early on the disease than the hindfoot. The midfoot is also involved with radiological changes but...

Arthroscopic synovectomy is still widely practised although there is a lack of rigorous evidence by controlled trials. However, recent studies including a sizeable case series lend further support to its efficacy at a chemical level (immunohistological analyses) and at a functional level (Lysholm scores and Insall scores).
Mr Steve...

Hepatotoxicity associated with sulfasalazine in inflammatory arthritis: A case series from a local surveillance of serious adverse events Paresh Jobanputra , Roshan Amarasena , Fiona Maggs , Dawn Homer , Simon Bowman , Elizabeth Rankin , Andrew Filer , Karim Raza and Ronald Jubb BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2008, 9:48
Conclusions Serious hepatotoxicity...

Discussion of the management of RA of the hip with references
Wheeless' Textbook of Orthopaedics