Differential diagnosis in joint and spine damages

Abstract

The lecture covers main approaches to differential diagnosis in rheumatic diseases. It highlights the key questions that should be answered at the primary examination of the patient. The most important signs that can identify severe, sometimes urgent nonrheumatic diseases are presented. The author describes pain of different patterns and intensity and the most common variants of acute or chronic onset of mono-, oligo-, or polyarthritis. The 2016 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) definition of arthralgia suspicious for the development of rheumatoid arthritis is given. The lecture presents the signs indicating the inflammatory nature of back pain in cases of suspected spondyloarthritis (SpA), as well as a two-step diagnostic strategy for axial SpA. Attention is paid to the semiotics of joint damage and extra-articular manifestations in various rheumatic diseases. A brief algorithm for a differential diagnostic search for joint pain is given.