The Rheumatic Hand

Many rheumatic diseases cause changes that are visible in the hands. This book provides an overview of the most common rheumatic diseases with a focus on their hand manifestations and includes the following topics: Epidemiology Etiology and Pathogenesis; Hand Manifestations; Further Clinical Manifestations; and the Diagnosis and Therapy of Each Disease. The rheumatic diseases addressed are osteoarthritis rheumatoid arthritis gout calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition disease psoriatic arthritis reactive arthritis systemic sclerosis and dermatomyositis/polymyositis. The non-rheumatic diseases included are diabetic cheiroarthropathy endocarditis secondary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy and chronic regional pain syndrome. The roles of clinical evaluation X-ray MRI and high-resolution ultrasonographic images are also discussed.