Rheumatology Flashcards
Questions to ask about a patient with musculoskeletal complaints
- inert vs contractile structures (articular/extra-articular)?
- inflammatory vs non-inflammatory?
- duration and distribution?
- extra-articular manifestations/complications?
- could it be referred pain?
Describe the capsular pattern of arthritis with reference to the shoulder and hip
Shoulder: limited external rotation and abduction
Hip: limited internal rotation and adduction
Signs of pain being inflammatory (rather than non-inflammatory)
- morning stiffness for > 1 hour
- prominent night-time symptoms
- exercise improves/ rest worsens sx
- good response to NSAIDS
- constitutional symptoms
- systemic manifestations
What is the compression test and explain its relevance
Slight pressure across carpal/tarsal joints
–> elicits pain in synovitis
Etiology of Rheumatoid Arthritis
- genetics (HLA)
- sex (females)
- environmental (smoking, stress, infection)
Inflammatory cytokines involved in RA
- Tumour necrosis factor
- Interleukin-1
- Interleukin-6
Typical hx of RA
Young female Insidious onset Pain Early morning stiffness of several hours Hands and wrists Constitutional symptoms (fatigue, lethargy, fever)
Joint distribution of RA
COMMON wrists, MCPJ, PIPJ, MTPJ, knees, ankles LESS COMMON elbows, C1/C2, shoulders, hips RARE crico-arytenoid, temperomandibular
Early RA of hands
- boggy tender swellings around MCP and PIP
- filling of valleys between MCPs
- spindling of fingers due to fusiform swelling of PIPs
- loss of fist/ loss of grip strength (tenosynovitis)
- swelling over wrist dorsum
- wasting of small hand muscles
Advanced RA of hands
- Swan neck deformity
- Boutonniere deformity
- Z deformity of thumb
- ulnar deviation
- subluxation and dislocation of MCPJ
Poor prognostic signs in RA
- early appearance of erosions
- RF/ACPA positivity
- rheumatoid nodules
Extra-articular manifestations in RA
- Peri-articular: rheumatoid nodules, tenosynovitis
- Eyes: scleritis, sicca
- Lung: pleurisy, fibrosis, nodules
- Cardiac: effusions, atherosclerosis
- Skin: leg ulcers (vasculitis)
- Neurological: carpal tunnel, cervical myelopathy
- Haematological: Anaemia, Felty’s Syndrome
Felty’s syndrome
- RA
- Splenomegaly
- Neutropenia
- -> susceptible to infection
- -> associated with severe disease
Special Investigations for RA
- FBC
- ESR/CRP
- RF
- ACPA
- Synovial fluid
- Radiology
X-rays of early RA
- soft tissue swelling
- peri-articular osteopaenia
- erosions at margins of small joints
[U/S better at picking up erosions and tenosynovitis but time-consuming)
Medical Rx of RA
- DMARDs: methotrexate (mainstay), sulfasalazine, chloroquine
- Biologics (against TNFa, IL-6, B-lymphocytes)
- Steroids
- Anti-inflammatories (diclofenac, ibuprofen, indomethacin)
- Analgesics (paracetamol, amitriptyline)
Indications for joint replacement in RA
- pain due to joint damage not responding to medical management
- improvement of function/ restoration of movement
Causes of Mono-Arthritis
- septic arthritis
- trauma (fracture, internal derangement, haemarthrosis)
- crystal deposition disease
- osteoarthritis
- juvenile idiopathic arthritis
- coagulopathy
- AVN