preview

Oa Research Paper

Decent Essays

OSTEOARTHRITIS (OA)
OA is considered primary when no etiology can be clearly identified and secondary when the disease develops in response to injuries such as joint trauma, ligament injury causing instability, Paget’s disease, Ehlers-Danlos (congenital joint laxity), or congenital malformation of a joint. Twin and family studies have shown a multifactorial pattern in primary OA. Precocious OA (onset early in life) has been associated with a mutation in the gene coding for Type II collagen.
The initial changes in OA are found in the superficial zone of the articular cartilage and consist of an increased water content of the articular cartilage and loss of proteoglycan. Proteolytic degradation of proteoglycan reduces its chain length and inhibits …show more content…

It also commonly develops in small joints in the hands (called “nodal OA”), particularly *the DIP (distal interphalangeal ) and the PIP (proximal interphalangeal) joints, coupled with the first carpo-metacarpal joint (base of the thumb) but it typically *spares the metacarpophalangeal joints (MCP) of the fingers. Development of marginal or peripheral bone spurs (“osteophytes”) is one of the characteristic findings of OA. Osteophytes at the DIP joints are known as Heberden’s nodes; those at the PIP joints are called Bouchard’s …show more content…

There is a very strong association with the phenotypic frequency of the histocompatibility antigen, HLA-B27, particularly in Caucasians. Infectious agents (e.g., Shigella from the gastrointestinal tract) may be involved in triggering the disease. There is a strong overlap between the arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease and ankylosing spondylitis. Many patients with IBD develop a degree of spondylitis, and many patients with ankylosing spondylitis have evidence of bowel inflammation on biopsy.
Clinical Features
**AS and other spondyloarthopathies are characterized by three features: (1) insidious but sometimes abrupt onset in patients under age 40, (2) duration of symptoms more than 3 months, and (3) morning stiffness which improves with exercise. The joints characteristically affected are the sacroiliac joints, the lumber vertebrae, thoracic and cervical vertebrae, the hips and rarely the peripheral joints. A patient with bilateral sacroiliitis without the features of Reiter’s syndrome (see below), psoriasis, or inflammatory bowel disease, may be diagnosed with AS if there is also limitation in motion of the spine.
Women rarely are diagnosed with AS. The reason for this protective effect of patient sex is not understood. Women can have low back pain and bilateral sacroillitis, but the spine is rarely

Get Access