Juxtaarticular osteoporosis

✍ Scribed by Howard Duncan; Jeanne M. Riddle

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 253 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780290125

✦ Synopsis

The efforts of pediatric rheumatologists to segregate rheumatoid arthritis that occurs in children into separate subsets based on clinical characteristics has been a fruitful enterprise which has led to the recognition of different prognoses and, consequently, different treatment programs. The scheme of separation appears to be confirmed by HLA studies and may help in finding the etiology or etiologies.

An analogous separation of patients whose rheumatoid arthritis began after age 60 into 3 separate subsets might prove equally rewarding. These groups would include:

1. Typical rheumatoid arthritis with rheumatoid factor and nodules, predilection for small joints, and erosions and joint damage evident on serial radiographs.

2. Sjogren's syndrome with rheumatoid factor, arthritis often limited to the wrists and hands, and little evidence of progressive destructive disease on serial radiographs.

3. A clinical picture similar to polymyalgia rheumatica with no rheumatoid factor, marked morning stiffness, predilection for proximal joints, and a benign course with no evidence of joint destruction on serial radiographs.