Friday, November 13, 2009

Why might you need to see a Rheumatologist?

You may be referred by your primary care physician or another physician who suspects that you have a rheumatic disease.


Examples of rheumatic diseases include:


  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Systemic lupus erythematosus
  • Seronegative spondyloarthropathies
    • Psoriatic arthritis
    • Ankylosing spondylitis
    • Reactive arthritis (formerly Reiter's syndrome)
    • Enteropathic arthritis/Inflammatory bowel disease-associated arthritis
  • Other undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis
  • Osteoarthritis
  • Osteoporosis
  • Crystalline arthritis
    • Gout
    • Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) arthritis
  • Mixed connective tissue disease, overlap syndromes, and undifferentiated connective tissue disease
  • Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome
  • Systemic sclerosis/scleroderma
  • Raynaud's phenomenon
  • Sjogren's syndrome
  • Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies
    • Polymyositis
    • Dermatomyositis
    • Inclusion body myositis
  • Vasculitides
    • Giant cell arteritis
    • Polymyalgia rheumatica
    • Takayasu's arteritis
    • Polyarteritis nodosa
    • Primary angiitis of the central nervous system (PACNS)/CNS vasculitis
    • Wegener's granulomatosis
    • Microscopic polyangiitis
    • Churg-Strauss syndrome
    • Immune complex-mediated vasculitis (hypersensitivity vasculitis, urticarial vasculitis, cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, Henoch-Schonlein purpura)
    • Behcet's disease
    • Kawasaki's disease
  • Relapsing polychondritis
  • Adult-onset Still's disease
  • Sarcoidosis
  • Paget's disease of bone