 Rheumatory
Arthritis
(Misspelling of Rheumatoid arthritis)
WHAT IS RA?
Rheumatory Arthritis
(Rheumatoid arthritis) (RA)
is traditionally considered a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune
disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints.
It is a disabling
and painful inflammatory condition, which can lead to substantial loss
of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. RA is a systemic
disease, often affecting extra-articular tissues throughout the body
including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and muscles.
The name is derived from the Greek rheumatos means "flowing", and this
initially gave rise to the term 'rheumatic fever', an illness that can
follow throat infections and which includes joint pain. The suffix -oid
means "resembling", i.e. resembling rheumatic fever. Arthr means
"joint" and the suffix -itis, a "condition involving inflammation".
Thus
Rheumatory Arthritis
(Rheumatoid arthritis) was a form of joint inflammation that
resembled rheumatic fever. Rheumatoid arthritis appears to have been
described in paintings more than a century before the first detailed
medical description of the condition in 1800 by Landre-Beauvais.
Rheumatory
Arthritis (Rheumatoid
arthritis) is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disorder affecting
the joints and sometimes other organs as well. It is by definition
polyarticular; that is, it affects many joints. Most commonly, the
small joints in the hands and feet are affected, but larger joints
(shoulders, knees etc) can also be affected; the pattern of joint
involvement can differ from patient to patient.
Rheumatoid arthritis affects women three times more often than men,
and it can first develop at any age. The risk of first developing the
disease (the disease incidence) appears to be greatest for women
between 40 and 50 years of age, and for men somewhat later.[3] RA is a
chronic disease, and although a spontaneous remission may occur in a
very small number of patients, the natural course is almost invariably
one of persistent symptoms, waxing and waning in intensity, and a
progressive deterioration of joint structures leading to deformations
and disability.
The small joints of the cervical spine can also be involved.
Inflammation in the joints manifests itself as a soft, "doughy"
swelling, pain, tenderness to palpation and movement, local warmth,
and functional impairment. Morning stiffness is often a prominent
feature and may last for more than an hour. These signs help
distinguish rheumatoid and other inflammatory arthritides from
non-inflammatory diseases of the joints such as osteoarthritis
(sometimes referred to as the "wear-and-tear" of the joints). In RA,
the joints are usually affected in a fairly symmetrical fashion
although the initial presentation may be asymmetrical. |
