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One of the most common afflictions of the baby boomer generation is
osteoarthritis of the knee (OAK). Up to 20 million Americans may
suffer from this condition.
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Joint replacement surgery for arthritis has become commonplace
nowadays when it comes to areas such as hips or knees.
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The American College of Rheumatology meeting held in Boston from
November 6-12 provided a platform for experts in the field of
fibromyalgia (FM) to present information that updates our notions
as to what this disorder really is.
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Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory
form of arthritis that preferentially affects the spine leading to
limitation of spine movement. The cause of AS is not fully known,
but there is a strong genetic predisposition associated with a
genetic marker called the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27.
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Fibromyalgia (FM) is a condition characterized by chronic,
widespread pain in muscles and soft tissues accompanied by fatigue.
It is an extremely common condition that is often underdiagnosed or
misdiagnosed because it does not cause any structural damage in an
organ and there are no specific laboratory tests that point towards
its presence.
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Biologic therapy has revolutionized our approach to the treatment
of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Less than 10 years ago, the best we
could hope for was to “modify disease” or slow it down and also
help with symptoms. Now the goal is to not only control symptoms,
it is to get RA into complete remission. Biologics are
protein-based medicines that are synthesized in a laboratory. They
act like laser beams to target the immune abnormalities that are
felt to cause RA.
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The role of many complementary and alternative therapies for
arthritis have come under careful scrutiny recently. Some therapies
seem to work while others are a short step from snake oil. The
difficult problem is separating the truly effective therapies from
the ones that really don’t work.
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If you have rheumatoid arthritis, you should be worried about risk
from cardiovascular events. That includes both heart attacks and
strokes.
