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Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that is of unknown cause and is characterized by pain, stiffness, inflammation, swelling and sometimes destruction of joints.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Arthritis
Inflammation of a joint, usually accompanied by pain, swelling, and stiffness, and resulting from infection, trauma, degenerative changes, metabolic disturbances, or other causes. Arthritis occurs in various forms, such as the arthritis associated with infections, osteoarthritis, or rheumatoid arthritis. Many forms of vasculitis can also be associated with arthritis.
Chronic
Ongoing or recurring. Chronic medical conditions include diabetes, epilepsy, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Disease
Illness or sickness often characterized by typical patient problems (symptoms) and physical findings (signs). Disruption sequence: The events that occur when a fetus that is developing normally is subjected to a destructive agent such as the rubella (German measles) virus.
Pain
An unpleasant sensory or emotional experience primarily associated with tissue damage, or described in terms of tissue damage, or both.
Inflammation
A reaction to an injury to the body - by infection, chemicals or physical agents. The symptoms can be - depending on the location of the injury- redness, swelling, heat and pain. The purpose of the inflammation is to dilute and destroy the agent causing the inflammation. To do this, the immune system starts a cascade of actions that causes active cells to gather at the affected location. It is these cells and fluids that cause the redness, swelling, heat and pain.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
Rheumatic Fever
A serious inflammatory condition which follows Streptococcal pharyngitis. Acute rheumatic fever can destroy the heart valves or leave them vulnerable to scarring, thickening, calcification, and fusion of the leaflets later in life.
Rheumatic Heart Disease
Rheumatic Fever can lead to a condition known as rheumatic heart disease. This is usually a thickening and stenosis of one or more of the heart valves and often requires surgery, to repair or replace the involved valve (s).
Rheumatic Valve Disease
Rheumatic Valve Disease is a consequence of rheumatic fever. Rheumatic valve disease is a thickening and stenosis of one or more of the heart valves and often requires surgery to repair or replace the affected valve(s).
Rheumatism
A general disease characterized by painful, often multiple, local inflammations, usually affecting the joints and muscles, but also extending sometimes to the deeper organs, as the heart.
Rheumatoid factor
An autoantibody (usually IgM) which reacts with the individual's own IgG. Present in rheumatoid arthritis.
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Retina
A membrane lining the inside of the back of the eye that contains light-sensitive nerve cells that convert focused light into nerve impulses, making vision possible.
Recessive gene
A gene that is inferior to another gene that controls the same trait (the dominant gene). The inferior gene does not get expressed in the presence of a dominant gene.
Rectum
An 8-inch chamber connected to the large intestine that receives solid waste (feces) from the descending colon to be expelled from the body. The rectum connects the colon to the anus. It is the rectum's job to receive stool from the colon, to let the person know that there is stool to be evacuated, and to hold the stool until evacuation happens.
Rheumatism
A general disease characterized by painful, often multiple, local inflammations, usually affecting the joints and muscles, but also extending sometimes to the deeper organs, as the heart.
Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)
A hereditary condition resulting in degeneration of the retina; causes a narrowing of the field of vision. The visual field loss often begins as a donut like ring in mid-periphery. As it progresses both centrally and peripherally, the resultant tunnel vision begins to affect the patient’s activities, driving and mobility.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rigidity
Rigidity is an increased resistance to the passive movement of a limb.
Rickets
A disorder of childhood characterised by defective bone and mineralisation, where characteristic lower limb bowing or bending occurs. Other outward signs of rickets can be the so-called rachitic rosary on the ribs, and thickened wrists, as well as bossing of the forehead.
Rheumatic Fever
A serious inflammatory condition which follows Streptococcal pharyngitis. Acute rheumatic fever can destroy the heart valves or leave them vulnerable to scarring, thickening, calcification, and fusion of the leaflets later in life.
Ribosome
A cytoplasmic cellular structure, composed of ribonucleic acid and protein, that functions in the synthesis of protein. Ribosomes interact with messenger RNA and transfer RNA to join together amino acid units into a polypeptide chain according to the sequence determined by the genetic code.
Radioisotope scan
Uses radioactive substances introduced into the body to create an image of the functioning adrenal gland.
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