ABSTRACT
Background: Early recognition of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) provides clinical benefits in terms of remission induction, reduced disease progression, and eventually treatment free remission. Aim: To describe the setting of a Unit devoted exclusively to the recognition and treatment of early RA in patients referred from primary healthcare centers (PHC) in Chile. Materials and Methods: Patients were referred from nine participating PHC from 2014 through 2016. PHC physicians received a formal training to enhance criteria recognition and program adherence. Mandatory referral criteria were an age above 17 years, and arthralgia of less than 1-year duration, plus at least one of the following: morning stiffness of more than 30 minutes, swelling involving more than 3 joints for more than 1 month, a positive squeeze test or abnormal inflammatory serum markers. Results: One hundred twenty patients aged 45 ± 12 years (90% women) were assessed at the early rheumatoid arthritis unit. Median time to referral from PHC to the Unit was 14.6 days. The median duration of symptoms for the overall sample of patients was 10.8 months. RA was identified in 43 patients (36%), with a delay between onset of symptoms and diagnosis of 8.3 months. Regarding the performance of referral criteria, the most sensitive was morning stiffness (80%, sensitivity 95% confidence intervals (CI) 64-89%) and synovitis was the most specific (specificity 83%, 95% CI 72-90%). The positive predictive value of the three clinical criteria altogether was 68.1% (95% CI 47-83%). Conclusions: Institution of an early RA unit was feasible within the Chilean healthcare system enabling the identification of early RA in one-third of patients.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Middle Aged , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/diagnosis , Comprehensive Health Care , Early Diagnosis , Primary Health Care , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/therapy , Chile , Rheumatic Diseases/classification , Rheumatic Diseases/diagnosis , Rheumatic Diseases/therapy , Sensitivity and Specificity , Health Services AccessibilityABSTRACT
The involvement of the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) occurs in a small proportion of patients with vasculitis. In our case report, the patient appears with a sensory-motor polyneuropathy, manifestation of a systemic vasculitis, which involved only the vasa nervorum.
El compromiso del Sistema Nervioso Periférico (SNP) ocurre en una pequeña proporción de pacientes afectados por vasculitis. En nuestro caso clínico, la paciente en cuestión debuta con una polineuropatía sensitivo-motora, manifestación de una vasculitis sistémica que comprometía sólo la vasa nervorum.
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Aged , Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis , Quadriplegia/complicationsABSTRACT
Se presenta un caso de enfermedad de Whipple confirmado, en una mujer de 61 años, por estudio histológico de biopsias escalonadas de duodeno y yeyuno.Se señala la etiología bacteriana y el carácter sistémico de la afección, que es producida por la Tropheryma whippelii, que es un bacilo Gram positivo con forma de hoz. Se describe el cuadro clínico que es esencialmente polimorfo pero dentro del cual destacan la diarrea crónica de tipo alto, con caracteres de síndrome de malabsorción y marcado compromiso progresivo del estado general; las artralgias y poliartritis y la fiebre. La enfermedad responde favorablemente a diversos antibióticos que deben administrarse en forma prolongada para intentar reducir las recurrencias que son muy frecuentes y que comprometen muchas veces al sistema nervioso central