MSK - Preading Flashcards
How many categories of ‘Arthritis’ are there, generally speaking?
What are they?
4 categories of Arthritis:
- Inflammatory e.g. RA, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis etc.
- Non-inflammatory i.e. OA
- Septic
- Crystal i.e. gout or pseudogout
What are common ‘early’ presenting features of Rheumatoid Arthritis?
- Swollen, painful joints (commonly small joints of hands / feet)
- Stiffness worse in morning
- Develops over a few months
- Positive ‘squeeze test’ = discomfort when squeezing across metacarpal or metatarsal joints
What are common ‘later’ presenting features of Rheumatoid Arthritis?
- Ulnar deviation = swelling of MCP joints causes finger displacement towards little finger (ulnar)
- Z-thumb = IP hyperextension + MCP flexion and subluxation (partial dislocation)
- Swan neck joints = DIP flexion + PIP hyperextension
-
Boutonnière deformities = DIP hyperextension + PIP flexion
- Can also be caused by trauma to dorsum of a flexed middle phalynx
-
Guttering on dorsum of hand
- Local inflammation causes inhibition of nerve afferents resulting in ↓ muscle tone and thus lack of use –> atrophy
- Large joint involvement
Swelling of the DIP joint is more commonly associated with which, Rheumatoid arthritis or Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis
- DIP join is the most commonly affected joint in the hand
- DIP involvement in RA often occurs following MCP + PIP involvement
What do Boutonnière deformities look like?
What do Swan neck deformities look like?
What extra-articular complications occur in Rheumatoid Arthritis?
-
Respiratory:
- Pulmonary fibrosis
- Pleural effusion
- Bronchiolitis obliterans
- Methotrexate pneumonitis
- Pleurisy
-
Ocular:
- Keratoconjunctivitis sicca - dry eyes (most common)
- Episcleritis
- Scleritis
- Scleromalacia perforans ‘corneal melt’
- Corneal ulceration
- Keratitis
- Steroid-induced cataracts
- Chloroquine retinopathy
- Osteoporosis
-
Heart:
- Ischaemic heart disease (RA carries similar risk to T2DM)
- Pericardial effusion
- Pericarditis
-
Hand / wrist:
- Carpal tunnel
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Palmar erythema
- Nailfold infarcts
-
General:
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Depression
- Low-grade fever
-
Blood:
- Normocytic anaemia
- Leukopenia
- Pancytopenia
- Amyloidosis
- ↑ Infections
How common are extra-articular symptoms of RA?
~ 40% of patients have extra-articular symptoms
What is the initial treatment step for Rheumatoid Arthritis (NICE 2018)?
DMARD (disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs) monotherapy +/- a short-course of bridging prednisolone
Name 5 common DMARDs
- Methotrexate
- Azathioprine
- Sulfasalazine
- Leflunomide
- Hydroxychloroquine
What monitoring is required when taking Methotrexate?
- FBC - risk of myelosuppression (decreased production of RBCs, WBCs and platelets)
- Creatinine / calculated GFR (U+Es)
- LFTs - risk of liver cirrhosis
What medication is also prescribed alongside Methotrexate?
Folinic Acid (Leucovorin)
- Given to reduce toxicity of methotrexate (Folic acid antagonist)
- 5mg once weekly
- Take >24hrs after methotrexate dose
What is the starting dose of Methotrexate for RA?
What is the maximum dose for moderate RA vs severe RA?
- 7.5 mg once weekly
- Moderate RA max = 20mg once weekly
- Severe RA max = 25mg once weekly
What are the steps of escalation in treatment of RA?
- DMARD monotherapy +/- bridging prednisolone
- methotrexate or leflunomide or sulfasalazine
- DMARD duel therapy
- TNF-inhibitors (indicated when response to at least 2 DMARDs including methotrexate is inadequate)
Name 3 common TNF-inhibitors used for RA
-
Etanercept
- Recombitant human protein, subcut administration, acts as decoy for TNF-α
-
Infliximab
- Monoclonal antibody, subcut administration, binds to TNF-α and prevents it from binding with TNF receptors
-
Adalimumab
- Monoclonal antibody, subcutaneous administration
What does it mean when a fracture is ‘open’?
- That the bone is protruding through the skin
OR
- A wound penetrates down to the broken bone
What do the following terms mean in reference to a fracture?
- Stable
- Transverse
- Oblique
- Comminuted
- Segmental
- Stable = The broken ends of the bone line up and are barely out of place
- Transverse = This type of fracture has a horizontal fracture line
- Oblique = This type of fracture has an angled pattern
- Comminuted = The bone shatters into three or more pieces
- Segmental = Fracture (often of a long bone) at two different levels with a middle whole segment of bone
What is the medical term for repositioning of bone fragments?
Reduction
What is a ‘Hills-Sachs’ lesion?
It is a flattening or indentation of the posterior humeral head following forceful impaction of the humeral head against the anteroinferior glenoid rim, when the shoulder is dislocated anteriorly
What is a Bankart Lesion?
Is an injury of the anteroinferior glenoid labrum of the shoulder due to anterior shoulder dislocation –> a pocket forms at the front of the glenoid allowing humeral dislocation
Bony Bankart = Bankart lesion includes a fracture of the anteroinferior gelnoid cavity (see image)
What is a simple way to distinguish between anterior and posterior dislocations of the shoulder?
- Anterior = humeral head is often dislocated anterior to glenoid and inferior to coracoid process
-
Posterior = humeral head is often dislocated posterior to glenoid and on the same level as the coracoid process
- Glenohumeral joint is widened
Seperate the following features into those most common to inflammatory MSK conditions vs non-inflammatory MSK conditions
- Pain after use/at end of day
- Morning stiffness for > 30 mins
- Systemic symptoms
- Acute/subacute presentation
- Chronic symptoms
- No night-time pain
- No systemic symptoms
- Morning stiffness for < 30 mins
- Pain worse after rest/in morning
- Night-time pain
Inflammatory MSK:
- Pain worse after rest/in morning
- Morning stiffness for > 30 mins
- Night-time pain
- Systemic symptoms
- Acute/subacute presentation
Non-inflammatory MSK:
- Pain after use/at end of day
- Morning stiffness for < 30 mins
- No night-time pain
- No systemic symptoms
- Chronic symptoms