Musculoskeletal Pathology Flashcards
What kind of condition are connective tissue diseases?
Autoimmune conditions = inflammatory conditions characterised by the presence of autoantibodies
What are some specific autoantibodies that have strong links with specific diseases?
Rheumatoid factor = rheumatoid arthritis
Structural parts of DNA = SLE
Anticentromere, antitelomere = Scleroderma
Anti Jo = Dermatomyositis
What occurs in rheumatoid arthritis?
Inflammation of joints = cartilage is destroyed by inflammatory process causing loss of joint space
What is rheumatoid factor?
Autoantibody against Fc IgG
What occurs in the acute and chronic phases of rheumatoid arthritis?
Acute = Pannus formation (inflammatory granulation tissue), hyperplastic/reactive synovium Chronic = fibrosis, deformity
What occurs in SLE?
Prototypic autoimmune disease where autoantibodies are directed at the structural parts of DNA
What are some autoantibodies involved in SLE?
ANA (>95%), Anti double stranded DNA (40-60%), Anti-Sm, RNP, SS-A and B
What occurs in inflammatory arthritis usually?
Chronic inflammation = lymphocytes and plasma cells
What are some acute features of inflammatory arthritis?
Oedema, fibrin, reactive features in synovial cells
When should a biopsy be taken in inflammatory arthritis?
To exclude other conditions
What are some examples of metabolic diseases that affect the joints?
Crystal arthropathies, Paget’s disease, osteomalacia
How can gout arise?
Urate formed in DNA replications as adenine and guanine are purine based, uric acid is the end product of purine synthesis, leads to needle shaped crystal formation
What are the two ways hyperuricaemia can arise?
Increased production
Reduced excretion = under-excretion most common cause, drug side effect (thiazide diuretics reduce urate excretion)
What are some causes of increased uric acid production?
Usually idiopathic (unknown enzyme defect in 90%) HGPRT deficiency = Lyoch Nyhan syndrome (rare) Increased cell turnover (e.g cancer, psoriasis)
Where do urate crystals tend to form?
In joints (lower temperatures)
What is the name for the deposition of urate crystals in soft tissue?
Gouty tophus
What are some clinical manifestations of crystal arthropathies?
Precipitation of crystals (reduced solubility)
Acute inflammatory reaction
Gouty tophus
Secondary degenerative changes in joint
Renal disease (stones and direct deposition in tubules and interstitium)
How is cytology performed of crystal arthropathies?
Joint fluid examined under cross-polarised light to detect needle shaped crystals
What does histology of crystal arthropathies show?
Amorphous eosinophilic debris and inflammation (giant cells), crystals lost during tissue processing, pyrophosphate arthropathy