Rheumatology is a sub-speciality of internal medicine , which deals with the diagnosis and management of diseases affecting the joints, muscles, soft tissues and bones. These disorders include certain autoimmune diseases as well as the allied conditions of connective tissues. Clinicians who specialize in rheumatology are called rheumatologists.
Q. What are the diseases treated in rheumatology?
Rheumatologist medically treat diseases that affect the musculoskeletal system.There are more than 100 types of these diseases. The common diseases diagnosed and managed by the rheumatologist include.
Arthritis - rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, septic arthritis
Muscle disorders - polymyositis, dermatomyositis
Diseases affecting bones - osteoporosis, osteomalacia
Soft Tissue Rheumatism - includes diseases and lesions affecting the joints and structures around the joints including tendons, ligaments, capsules, bursae.
Musculoskeletal pain disorders like back pain, neck pain
Gout ( uric acid disorder), Pseudogout
Diseases of blood vessels - Vasculitis syndromes like Wegener’s granulomatosis, Polyarteritis nodosa
Immune system disorders - SLE, Scleroderma, Sarcoidosis
Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) - JIA includes a wide range of joint disorders affecting children
Rheumatology is a rapidly evolving medical specialty and is closely related to immunology. Many common rheumatological disorders are now described as autoimmune diseases i.e disorders where body’s own immune system starts affecting the various body organs. Correspondingly, most new treatment modalities are also based on clinical research in immunology.
Most rheumatic diseases were earlier treated only with pain-killers, analgesics and steroids in serious cases. Present medical treatment of rheumatological disorders helps patients with rheumatism lead a normal or near normal life.
Various
DMARDs (Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs) like methotrexate were introduced for the management of these disorders and these drugs now form the backbone of treatment of most of the patients.
More recently, various
Biologic agents including different monoclonal antibodies, have been introduced for the treatment of various conditions and they have proved to be useful especially for the refractory patients.
Physiotherapy is also a vital part of treatment for many patients. Patients with rheumatological conditions often need a coordinated and a multidisciplinary team management and the treatment is often tailored according the individual needs of the patient.