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Psoriatic arthritis (PA) is among the most typical forms of inflammatory arthritis. Like its not so distant cousin, rheumatoid arthritis, PA is a systemic autoimmune driven type of arthritis. It is most common in people who have an extensive quantity of psoriasis. In keeping with the Nationwide Psoriasis Foundation, between 10 per cent and 30 per cent of individuals with psoriasis will develop PA. Apparently, patients may develop the arthritis earlier than they have medical psoriasis.

Most patients with psoriatic arthritis, if joint symptoms are minimal, normally see a dermatologist before realizing they have PA. Symptoms include swelling, heat, redness, and ache involving not solely the joints however the entheses (tendon attachments into the bone) as well. In addition, tendon sheaths within the fingers and toes can swell, causing what's termed a "sausage" digit. Stiffness in the morning is usually present.

Patients with PA can have variants of the disease. Some patients have extra involvement of the spine than others. PA is often non-symmetric as opposed to rheumatoid arthritis which tends to be symmetric in presentation. It's this asymmetry that may be useful for suspecting the diagnosis.

In addition to the typical rash of psoriasis, sufferers might have nail pitting or lifting up of the finger or toenail.

Like different autoimmune forms of arthritis, there is a systemic component to this disease. In particular, patients with PA can develop eye inflammation.

Imaging procedures similar to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may help confirm the diagnosis. Particular changes at the entheses are characteristic of PA.

Treatment begins with making the diagnosis. Ailments that may be confused with PA are rheumatoid arthritis, gout (the serum uric acid may be elevated in patients with PA), fibromyalgia, pseudogout, ankylosing spondylitis, sarcoidosis, Lyme disease, and Reiter's disease.

The goals of correct remedy are to slow down the progress of the disease and restore function. A combination of an anti-inflammatory drug and a disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) is the same old starting point of treatment. While methotrexate is the DMARD of alternative for rheumatoid arthritis, it may not work quite as well in PA. Choices embody sulfasalazine (Azulfidine), leflunomide (Arava), and hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil).

In sufferers who do not reply inside eight to 12 weeks, biologic remedy using a TNF inhibitor is the subsequent logical step. Among the many options here are etanercept (Enbrel), infliximab (Remicade), adalimumab (Humira), and golimumab (Simponi).

Sufferers with a single inflamed joint or tendon may respond to steroid injection.

psoriatic arthritis