Rheumatology

New findings from a national survey shed light on patient attitudes and experiences with arthritis and joint pain.

A recent meta-analysis assessed comparative clinical efficacy of NSAIDs and COX-2 inhibitors. Try these 7 questions on the findings - does your clinical experience match?

Opioids or opiate-like analgesics? Weight loss, exercise, or orthotics? Sleep interventions or cognitive therapy? What works for OA pain and what's the evidence?

Special Report recap: the current and future state of RA patient care and what PCPs will need to know to do their part.

Preventing further acute attacks and decreasing the tophi burden becomes a secondary goal.

Primary care can do more to help reduce gout morbidity, says a new review-plus 4 more studies on gout treatment and prevention.

The faster the attack is recognized and treated with medications, the easier it is to control.

Clinical presentation, history, and laboratory evaluation can make a diagnosis of gout, but crystal examination is the “gold standard.”

How to regulate “the king of diseases and the disease of kings” is this Patient Care Special Report's domain.

The 60-year-old black woman has a history of joint pain, muscle weakness, and Raynaud phenomenon. Why the “dirty hands”?

The patient’s reach with his thumb helps distinguish between frozen shoulder and osteoarthritis. How high is enough to tell?

For key facts and figures about musculoskeletal disorders, perhaps a surprise as the fourth leading diagnostic category in primary care, see the pages that follow.

Can you identify the most common symptoms of Löfgren syndrome ?

Once a disease of kings, gout affects an increasing number of “commoners”-and the physical and economic toll is high.

What condition is represented by inflammatory muscle disease, interstitial lung disease, Raynaud phenomenon, arthritis, and cutaneous manifestations, and in what rheumatologic diseases might you see it?

Oral etidronate, IV pamidronate, and then zoledronate caused bone markers to normalize in this 80-year-old woman-temporarily. What’s going on? Answer this and questions on 3 other topics in this week’s quiz.

The “shawl sign” and the heliotrope rash: two skin signs that are pathognomonic of dermatomyositis. Here: a close-up look.

Polycystic ovary syndrome, “dermatoses of pregnancy,” systemic sclerosis, subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus, gallbladder agenesis, sarcoidosis-a close look at medical problems seen frequently in women.

A 5-year-old boy had pain and weakness in his legs and had trouble climbing stairs. He had a dramatic rise in CPK followed by erythematous papules on the hands, as shown, and a rash around the eyelids. Which diagnosis is most likely?

Test yourself on symptoms of Löfgren syndrome, comorbdities of Down syndrome; complications of diabetes, and more in this week’s quiz.

A wide range of disorders show up in the feet, and patients often turn to their primary care physician to find the diagnosis. This week's photo quiz offers several presentations to test your knowledge.

The FDA today advised physicians prescribing rituximab to screen and monitor all patients taking the drug for evidence of hepatitis B infection.

This week’s questions challenge your dermatologic and radiologic skills, and then some. See how you fare…

The diagnosis of juvenile dermatomyositis can be challenging when proximal muscle weakness develops without characteristic skin manifestations. In this patient, rash appeared 2 months after the onset of muscle weakness. As a result, the initial diagnosis was viral myositis, which led to delayed therapy.

Approval of a blood test that identifies the genotype of hepatitis C virus that has infected a patient can be expected to improve the effectiveness of treatment for chronic hepatitis C with new antivirals.

Images of acute allergic contact dermatitis, Lyme disease, southern tick–associated rash illness, tick-borne babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and brown recluse spider bites.

Images of guttate, small-plaque, and chronic plaque psoriasis; systemic lupus erythematosus; pityriasis rubra pilaris; and secondary syphilis.

A new era in hepatitis C treatment began in May 2011, with approval of telaprevir and boceprevir. They are effective only for some patients, but new and better options are well on their way to the clinic.

See clinical features of rheumatologic diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, psoriatic arthritis, scleroderma

Much like HIV/AIDS, RA is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and consequent death. How might inflammation add to the risk?