Arthritis
75yo presents with right knee pain gradually worsening over past year. Also complains of pain and stiffness around finger joints particularly in the morning.
75yo presents with right knee pain gradually worsening over past year. Also complains of pain and stiffness around finger joints particularly in the morning.
Overview Once arthritis is suspected, physicians should distinguish between noninflammatory and inflammatory forms of arthritis while recognizing potentially disabling and life-threatening problems.
| Remember Rule out septic arthritis in any monoarthritic presentation, prolonged diagnosis results in irreversible joint damage |
| Definition Polyarthralgia: multiple joint pain without synovities Polyarthritis: inflammation of 4 or more joints (synovitis) |
| Monoarthropathy | Oligoarthropathy | Polyarthropathy |
| Septic arthritis | Crystal arthritis | Rheumatoid arthritis |
| Crystal arthritis (Gout) | Psoriatic arthritis | Viral Arthritis |
| Osteoarthritis (can be mono-poly) | Reactive arthritis | Autoimmune connective tissue disease (ie. SLE) |
| Trauma (Haemarthrosis) | Ankylosing spondylititis | Vasculitides (ie. Polymyalgia Rheumatica) |
Approach
| Age | |
| Child | Trauma, Congenital, slipped capital femoral epihpysis, Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis |
| Young Adults | Reactive arthritis, gonococcal, SLE |
| Older patients | Acute gout and Pseudogout, Rheumatoid arthrits |
Arthritis can be divided into:
Non-inflammatory Arthritis
Inflammatory Arthritis