What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

The condition refers to an inflammatory condition affecting nearly 1 percent of the world’s adult population. The condition is characterized polyarticular inflammation of the small joints in the hands, wrist ad feet.

Due to the inflammation, the patients experience a lot of pain and stiffness leading to progressive joint damage, which can result in loss of function and deformities. The disease is associated with organ damage and severe disability.

Apart from this, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is also linked with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and changes in bone metabolism.

There has been a significant advance in the treatment for rheumatoid arthritis in the past two decades. Not only has there has been an increase in the understanding of the pathologic mechanisms, but also drug development for better options targeting those mechanisms. Read on further to learn about Rheumatoid Arthritis manifestations, and also how advanced medications can help in better outcomes.

Various Manifestations Of Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Articular manifestations: It includes the inflammation and consequent destruction of the synovial joints. The etiologic factor of the disease remains a mystery. There is inflammation of the synovial tissues due to interactions between the T and B lymphocytes and the macrophages. The tendon sheaths may also get inflamed. Damage may also occur in the supporting structures. Things like tendon inflammation may lead to swan neck deformities.
• Bone manifestations: The bones of the RA patients get affected in local as well as a systemic manner. There is higher bone resorption resulting in weaker bones in this disease; the modifying agents used can be used for the restoration of the normal function of bones formative cells. The use of corticosteroids may again increase the risk of osteoporosis in women.
• Airway manifestations: The airway disease is due to RA is found to affect 20- 30 percent of the patients. It may reflect in the form of small airway disease, pulmonary fibrosis, and obstructive abnormalities among a few problems. People who smoke are more prone to getting these conditions.
• Cardiovascular manifestations: As per research, it is seen that RA patients having the condition for more than 20 years has a 40 percent increased risk of mortality as compared to the general population.

Medications & Pharmaceutical Options To Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis

• DMARDs: These are the mainstay drugs used in the RA treatment back in the 1990s. This category of drugs helps in reducing inflammation as well as slowing the radiographic progression. Conventional DMARDs are used in combination with each other as well as with the other DMARDs ad biologics. However, each of the DMARD has a unique toxicity and there is a need for constant monitoring. Conventional DMARDs include Methotrexate, Leflunomide, Sulfasalazine, Hydroxychloroquine, Sulfasalazine, and more.
• Biologic DMARDs: These medications get used for targeting the specific abnormalities of the immune system. The biologic DMARDs have kind of revolutionized the treatment of RA. These include Anakinra, Abatacept, Rituximab, Anti-TNF Drugs, Tocilizumab, to name some of them.

Complications & How You Can Avoid Them

Rheumatoid arthritis is a condition characterized by an elevated risk of infection. The use of drugs like DMARDs, biologics, and steroids suppress the immune system further. The people on the medications become more susceptible to bacterial infections, like pneumonia, soft tissue infections. The chances of the risk become with the use of methotrexate. The doctors taking care of the RA patients on advanced rheumatoid arthritis treatment also need to pre-surveillance for the development of risks like tumors that may be secondary to the disease and other kinds of conditions. Careful monitoring of the benefit and the side effects are required from finding the right matches for medications for an individual. Moreover, the medications may also limit the surgical intervention measures in some instances. Therefore, it is imperative to have a highly qualified specialist who can help you counter the manifestations of the problem. When you get the right treatment, it can also help in remission.