Critical review of Rheumatoid arthritis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Critical reexamine of woebegone arthritis - Essay ExampleHowever, RA involves an attack on the dust by its own tolerant cells (auto-immune disease). Different cases may have different causes. Infectious, genetic, and hormonal factors may play a role. The disease tail go along at any age, but it begins most often between the ages of 25 and 55. The disease is more(prenominal) than common in older people. Women are affected 2.5 times more often than men. Approximately 1-2% of the bestow population is affected. The course and the severity of the illness can vary considerably. The onset of the disease is usually gradual, with fatigue, sunup stiffness (lasting more than one hour), diffuse muscular aches, loss of appetite, and weakness. Eventually, fit pain appears, with warmth, swelling, tilterness, and stiffness of the joint after inactivity.Joint involvement in RA usually affects both sides of the body equally -- the arthritis is wherefore referred to as symmetrical. Wrists, fingers, knees, feet, and ankles are the most commonly affected joints. Severe disease is associated with larger joints that contain more synovium (joint lining).When the synovium becomes inflamed, it secretes more fluid and the joint becomes swollen. Later, the cartilage becomes rough and pitted. The underlying bone at long last becomes affected. Joint destruction begins 1-2 years after the appearance of the disease.Characteristic deformities result from cartilage destruction, bone erosions, and tendon inflammation and rupture. A life-threatening joint complication can occur when the cervical spine becomes rickety as a result of RA.Other features of the disease that do not involve the joints may occur. Rheumatoid nodules are painless, hard, round or oval masses that appear under the skin, usually on blackmail points, such as the elbow or Achilles tendon. These are present in about 20% of cases and tend to reflect more severe disease.On occasion, they appear in the eye where th ey sometimes cause inflammation. If they occur in the lungs, inflammation of the lining of the lung (pleurisy) may occur, do brusqueness of breath. Anemia may occur due(p) to failure of the bone marrow to produce enough new red cells to make up for the wooly ones. Iron supplements will not usually help this condition because iron utilization in the body becomes impaired. Other blood abnormalities can also be found, for example, platelet counts that are either too gamey or too low.Rheumatoid vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels) is a serious complication of RA and can be life-threatening. It can lead to skin ulcerations (and subsequent infections), bleeding stomach ulcers (which can lead to massive hemorrhage), and neuropathies (nerve problems causing pain, numbness or tingling). Vasculitis may also affect the brain, nerves, and heart causing strokes, sensory neuropathies (numbness and tingling), heart attacks, or heart failure.Heart complications of RA commonly affect t he outer lining of the heart. When inflamed, the condition is referred to as pericarditis. punk of heart muscle, called myocarditis, can also develop. Both of these conditions can lead to congestive heart failure characterized by shortness of breath and fluid accumulation in the lung. Lung involvement is frequent in RA. Fibrosis of the lung tissue leads to shortness of breath and has been reported to occur in 20% of patients with RA. Inflammation of the