A study on 51 patients with rheumatism of the heart and without clinical carditis, ages of 5-15 in the Institute of Pediatry during 1996-2000 has shown that 23 cases (45,1%) had symptoms of pathological valvular open by Doppler of which mitral open in the 3 cardiac valves. The extend of valvular open reduced when disease was stable. The Doppler can detect carditis without clinical symptoms due to rheumatism of the heart.
Rheumatic Diseases ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; diagnosis

The cross-sectional desriptive study included 762 postmenopause women who lived in inner and suburb of Ha Noi city. The subjects were divided into 3 groups: 5 years or less of menopause, between 5 to 10 years of menopause and 10 years or more of menopause. All of them were overall examined. 206 women also were calcaneal ultrasound measured. The results showed that the rate of joint pain was 55.7%, increasing gradually with the years of menopause and more common in inner-city women. The rate of back pain was 68.2% and more common in suburb women.
Rheumatic Diseases ; ultrasonography ; Postmenopause ; diagnosis

The aim of our study was to develop a Korean rheumatic diseases-screening questionnaire. The questionnaire was constructed based on American College of Rheumatology criteria for rheumatic diseases and a connective tissue diseases screening questionnaire. Two groups of patients were selected and completed the questionnaire: (i) those with osteoarthritis (n=46), rheumatoid arthritis (n=52), systemic lupus erythematosus (n=50), scleroderma (n=8), polymyositis or dermatomyositis (n=7), Sjogren's disease (n=4), and mixed connective-tissue disease (n=9) as case subjects; and (ii) those with fibromyalgia (n=8) and general disease without evidence of any rheumatic disease (n=72) as controls. Laboratory results were analyzed for correlation with actual data using kappa (kappa) statistics. Test-retest reliability was performed in 12 patients, and showed strong agreement between the first and second interviews (kappa=0.91). The sensitivity of the questionnaire ranged from 77.8 to 100%, and specificity ranged from 68.8 to 95.0%. Negative predictive values were very high in the general population, from 98.4 to 99.99%. The kappa statistic for agreement between laboratory items was 0.22-0.56, except for rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibody test, and muscle enzyme level. We have developed a simple and sensitive Korean rheumatic diseases-screening questionnaire for the epidemiologic study of rheumatic diseases in Korea.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Human ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Mass Screening* ; Middle Aged ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Questionnaires* ; Reproducibility of Results ; Rheumatic Diseases/diagnosis ; Rheumatic Diseases/epidemiology* ; Rheumatic Diseases/physiopathology

The rheumatoid activity on any part of the spine may affect the surrounding nerves, causing a series of symptoms at the related region of the innervations. By pressing corresponding parts on spinous processes of patient spine, tenderness of various degrees occurs. We named this kind of symptoms as "the spinous process tenderness syndrome". Meanwhile, we borrowed laboratory and imaging examinations to diagnose and differential identify. The symptoms could be alleviated by eliminating pathogenic reasons, local resting, and anti-rheumatic drugs.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pain ; diagnosis ; Rheumatic Diseases ; diagnosis ; Spinal Diseases ; diagnosis ; Terminology as Topic

Arthritis, Juvenile ; diagnosis ; Child ; Forecasting ; Humans ; Immunologic Tests ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; diagnosis ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; diagnosis ; Rheumatic Diseases ; diagnosis ; immunology ; therapy ; Rheumatic Fever ; diagnosis ; Scleroderma, Systemic ; diagnosis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common chronic inflammatory joint disease. The prevalence of RA is between 0.5~1% and annual incidence of RA is approximately 0.2~0.4/1,000 persons. The prevalence and incidence of RA appear to have fallen in the last 50 years. Risk factors for the development of RA include genetic factors, hormonal factors, reproductive factors, environmental factors and life-style factors. The currently accepted classification scheme for RA is the 1987 American Rheumatism Association (ARA) criteria. This criteria is both sensitive and specific, but it has limitation in classifying early disease.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Classification ; Diagnosis* ; Epidemiology* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Joint Diseases ; Prevalence ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Risk Factors

Rheumatic diseases are associated various extra-articular manifestations, such as eye, nerve, pericardium, and pleura. The anterior part of the eye has distinguished anatomic structure resembling synovial joints, thus it is a common site of ocular manifestation in rheumatic disease. These changes include sicca syndrome, peripheral ulcerative keratitis, episcleritis, scleritis, and iritis. Some of these findings may be the clues for the diagnosis of the rheumatic diseases, and some ocular manifestations may represent the activity or prognosis of the rheumatic diseases. These ocular complications may leads to severe visual loss. It is crucial to rule out underlying systemic diagnosis in rheumatic disease associated ocular diseases, and when diagnosed, the coordination of the rheumatologist with the ophthalmologist in the treatment is imperative.
Corneal Ulcer ; Diagnosis ; Eye Diseases* ; Iritis ; Joints ; Pericardium ; Pleura ; Prognosis ; Rheumatic Diseases* ; Scleritis ; Sjogren's Syndrome

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory autoimmune disorder that mainly affects the diarthrodial joint. Morning stiffness and symmetric swelling of the wrists, PIPs and MCPs constitue the typical history for rheumatoid arthritis. Extra-articular manifestations in RA include constitutional symptoms, distinct organ manifestations and severe multiorgan disease. The presence of rheumatoid factor and the anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody, which is more specific to RA, are helpful in RA diagnosis. Although conventional radiographs remain the initial imaging modality in patients with RA, other imaging modalities such as MRI or ultrasound have demonstrated increased sensitivity to detecting early erosive change. To the present day, there is no single test that confirms RA. Early diagnosis of RA is essential because there is substantial evidence that early therapeutic intervention with non-biologic/biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs leads to a better outcome. Although the 1987 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for RA have been used as the gold standard in clinical studies, these criteria are misleading early in the disease course. The ACR/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) is scheduled to release the new classification criteria for RA soon. This review describes clinical manifestations of RA, diagnostic tools, as well as the classification criteria in the diagnosis of RA.
Antirheumatic Agents ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Joints ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Rheumatology ; Wrist

Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of exocrine organs. Since 1965, several sets of classification criteria for pSS have been proposed by single experts or groups of multidisciplinary specialists. In 2002, the American-European Consensus Group proposed new classification criteria, which have been widely used in both clinical trials and routine clinical practice. In 2012, updated classification criteria were approved by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). The existence of two different sets of criteria emphasized the need for an international consensus. Using methods consistent with those employed to develop recent ACR/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)-approved criteria, new ACR/EULAR classification criteria for pSS were developed and endorsed in 2016. Salivary gland ultrasonography (SGUS) is a new imaging tool used to detect salivary gland abnormalities in pSS patients. Several reports on the utility of SGUS for pSS diagnosis have appeared. This review focuses on the new 2016 ACR/EULAR classification criteria for pSS and the clinical application of SGUS in patients with pSS.
Classification* ; Consensus ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Rheumatology ; Salivary Glands* ; Specialization ; Ultrasonography*

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinical significance of heel pain, a frequently associated enthesopathy in Behcet's disease and to evaluate the association with seronegative spondyloarthropathy. METHODS: 15 Behcet's disease patients diagnosed by International Study Group for Behcet's disease criteria with arthritis were studied prospectively in the period of 1994. 3. 1-1995. 3. 31. Modified New York criteria was adopted for the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis. The patients were grouped into two by the presence of heel pain which was documented as tenderness on heel. RESULTS: There were 6 patients in the heel pain group and 9 patients in the non-heel pain group. Clinical characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups. Ankylosing sponaylitis was not associated in either group. ESR was higher with the value of 41.2mm/hr in heel pain group than 25.7mm/hr in non-heel pain group but it was not significant. In heel pam group, one patient showed HLA-B27 positivity, one patient showed erosive bone cha. nge, and one patient showed sacroiliitis but non-heel pain group showed no HLA positivity or bony changes. CONCLUSIONS: We find that subset of Behcet's disease patients with heel pain showed tendency to have higher inflammatory activity, erosive bone change, sacroilitis and HLA B-27 association, thus should be classified as seronegative spondyloarthropathy but seems to be different category from ankylosing spondylitis. These observations should be conducted in a large number of patients to establish the clinical value.
Arthritis ; Diagnosis ; Heel* ; HLA-B27 Antigen ; Humans ; Prospective Studies ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Sacroiliitis ; Spondylarthropathies ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing