Aims & Learning Objectives:
To provide an understanding of the epidemiology and pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.
After taking this unit the student should be able to:
Recognise the clinical features and outline the requirements to make a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Discriminate those clinical and laboratory features indicating active inflammatory synovitis. Formulate a management plan for a patient with rheumatoid arthritis. Define the diagnostic features in spondyloarthropathy, the connective tissue diseases, gout, polymyalgia rheumatica and fibromyalgia. Explain the clinical presention and management of children with inflammatory joint diseases.
Content:
* Epidemiology, pathology, diagnostic criteria and presentation patterns in inflammatory arthritis. Difficulties and psychological effects arising from flares of the disease. Suitable drug therapies and the patients care team approach;
* Characteristic features of groups of conditions, e.g. seronegative spondyloarthropathies. Autoimmune Connective tissue disease;
* Polymyalgia rheumatica, gout, fibromyalgia, juvenile chronic arthritis and virus-related arthritis including musculoskeletal conditions possibly associated with rubella, HIV infection, parvovirus and erythema nodosum.
|
