[Internist's therapy of rheumatoid arthritis].
Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common inflammatory joint disease and is characterized by chronic, symmetric, erosive synovitis of small joints of hands and feet. Prevalence in women is threefold higher than in man. Structural damage of the joints starts between the first and second year of the disease. Early therapeutic interventions can alter the course of rheumatoid arthritis by delaying the progression of radiographic joint destruction, which correlates with the grade of disability. Approval of new biologic antirheumatic drugs in the last few years improved the outcome of rheumatoid arthritis.
Abteilung Rheumatologie, Medizinische Klinik IV, Universität Leipzig. wolframseidel@aol.com
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D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D001175:Arthrography / Q000379:methods; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000379:methods; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010346:Patient Care Management; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D008727:Methotrexate