Articles on Medical Diseases and Conditions

ARF is a disease that has a specific etiologic agent yet has some similarities to the rheumatoid-collagen-vascular group. The etiologic agent is the beta-hemolytic Lancefield group A Streptococcus. Apparent hypersensitivity or other effect of this organism causes connective tissue changes manifested by focal necrosis of collagen and the development of peculiar aggregates of histiocytes called […]

In these conditions arthritis is associated with inflammation that affects the spine and lumbosacral joints (ankylosing spondylitis), the urethra (Reiter’s syndrome), the skin (psoriasis), or the intestinal tract. These conditions were (and are) frequently referred to as “rheumatoid arthritis variants.” This name has been discarded by most rheumatologists because the diseases have relatively little in […]

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), also known as “juvenile chronic polyarthritis,” or “Still’s disease,” is the most common disorder of childhood involving chronic joint inflammation (synovitis). Since there is a spectrum of signs and symptoms, diagnosis partially depends on exclusion of other recognized arthritis syndromes (some of which are discussed later). There are three subdivisions of […]

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic disease whose most prominent symptom is inflammation of joints. The small joints of the hands and feet, especially the proximal interphalangeal joints, are most frequently affected; involvement of larger joints of the extremities is somewhat less frequent, and occasionally nonextremity joints may be affected. Polyarticular involvement is much […]

The relationship between the rheumatoid diseases and diseases of the so-called collagen-vascular group is both close and uncertain. Many of the clinical symptoms found classically in one disease or syndrome may be found in another; the difference is on emphasis of certain aspects over others. This similarity extends to laboratory tests and makes it even […]