There are many clinical manifestations that are indicators of rheumatoid arthritis, but on the onset of this disease, an individual will most likely present with acute symptoms, such as a low-grade fever, malaise, arthralgia, and weakness. Even though these are acute, the presence of a higher fever, may suggest another illness, so it’s very important to take these symptoms just as seriously to prevent further health issues. As the disease progresses, however, the patient will probably notice that there is stiffness in the joint or joints, with pain and tenderness in the affected areas. According to Cojocaru, Cojocaru, Silosi, Vrabie, and Tanasescu (2010), the number of joints rheumatoid arthritis affects is highly variable, but it, unfortunately,
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Some important signs that the doctor will look for when suspecting rheumatoid arthritis is stiffness of the joints, tenderness, pain during motion, swelling, deformity, and lastly, limitation of motion. Other signs include the development of persistent symmetric polyarthritis, meaning that it will occur in both wrists instead of one, progressive articular deterioration, meaning the cartilage surrounding the joints starts wearing away, and constitutional symptoms, meaning a systemic effect of the disease (Cojocaru et al., 2010). Many individuals can even present with extra-articular manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis such as rheumatoid lung, nodules, pericarditis, and vasculitis. Not only this, but they may have systemic manifestations, including osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and even fatigue and depression (Cojocaru et al., 2010). This being said, it is very important that someone experiencing these symptoms, get it diagnosed right away so they can take appropriate measures to prevent any further health …show more content…
This being said, health-care providers will use other types of lab tests to help diagnose patients, such as imaging tools. Imaging tools such as MRI’s and ultrasounds not only help to track the progression of the disease in the joints over time, but they can also help track the severity of the disease occurring in the body. MRI’s, also known as magnetic resonance imaging, are primarily used to view the cervical spine and ultrasounds are more useful in seeing the joints, tendon sheaths, erosions, and even changes of vascularization of the synovial joints (Kourilovitch et al., 2014). Even though these imaging techniques help for diagnosis, the first choice used for imaging is usually radiography. According to Weinblatt, Westhovens, Mendelsohn, Kim, Lo, Sheng, and Baker (2014), this imaging tool is very useful in seeing the development of arthritis in the hands, wrists, knees, elbows, shoulders, hips, and other joints. This makes it very useful in the health-care provider’s therapeutic decisions in the selection of drugs being administered to the patient, and also, the decision between local and systemic therapy (Weinblatt et al., 2014). Aside from imaging techniques, biological processes can be used as well. The extraction of joint fluid and the analysis of synovial fluid may be looked at by biologic techniques such as cell count, gram
Some important signs that the doctor will look for when suspecting rheumatoid arthritis is stiffness of the joints, tenderness, pain during motion, swelling, deformity, and lastly, limitation of motion. Other signs include the development of persistent symmetric polyarthritis, meaning that it will occur in both wrists instead of one, progressive articular deterioration, meaning the cartilage surrounding the joints starts wearing away, and constitutional symptoms, meaning a systemic effect of the disease (Cojocaru et al., 2010). Many individuals can even present with extra-articular manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis such as rheumatoid lung, nodules, pericarditis, and vasculitis. Not only this, but they may have systemic manifestations, including osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and even fatigue and depression (Cojocaru et al., 2010). This being said, it is very important that someone experiencing these symptoms, get it diagnosed right away so they can take appropriate measures to prevent any further health …show more content…
This being said, health-care providers will use other types of lab tests to help diagnose patients, such as imaging tools. Imaging tools such as MRI’s and ultrasounds not only help to track the progression of the disease in the joints over time, but they can also help track the severity of the disease occurring in the body. MRI’s, also known as magnetic resonance imaging, are primarily used to view the cervical spine and ultrasounds are more useful in seeing the joints, tendon sheaths, erosions, and even changes of vascularization of the synovial joints (Kourilovitch et al., 2014). Even though these imaging techniques help for diagnosis, the first choice used for imaging is usually radiography. According to Weinblatt, Westhovens, Mendelsohn, Kim, Lo, Sheng, and Baker (2014), this imaging tool is very useful in seeing the development of arthritis in the hands, wrists, knees, elbows, shoulders, hips, and other joints. This makes it very useful in the health-care provider’s therapeutic decisions in the selection of drugs being administered to the patient, and also, the decision between local and systemic therapy (Weinblatt et al., 2014). Aside from imaging techniques, biological processes can be used as well. The extraction of joint fluid and the analysis of synovial fluid may be looked at by biologic techniques such as cell count, gram