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Psoriasis

Introduction to Psoriatic Arthritis

Summary & Participants

Learn about psoriatic arthritis including the symptoms and treatment of this disease

Medically Reviewed On: July 16, 2008

Webcast Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Four in a half million adults in the United States have been diagnosed with psoriasis.

DAFNA GLADMAN, MD: Psoriasis is an inflammatory skin condition that presents with red elevated scaly patches that can occur in the scalp, on the elbows and the knees most commonly, but may affect any part of the body. It also presents with changes in the nails, which can be a breakdown of the nails or just pits, as if somebody has taken a pin and made holes in the nail.

ANNOUNCER: Up to 30 percent of people with psoriasis will also develop psoriatic arthritis.

PHILIP MEASE, MD: Psoriatic arthritis is actually a disease in which immune cells in the body attack joints and cause inflammation and sometimes destruction of the joints. It also attacks the tissues around the joints. So ligaments and tendons can be stiff and painful.

Most often, we see psoriatic arthritis developing in someone in their late 30s, 40s or 50s. Occasionally it can occur in children. Sometimes people will have psoriasis for ten years and then develop psoriatic arthritis.

ANNOUNCER: Psoriatic arthritis affects men and women equally. Symptoms can vary from person to person.

BRUCE STROBER, MD: People wake up in the morning often feeling like their joints are exceedingly stiff. In the more severe types of arthritis that joint stiffness can last anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours. But what they'll notice is that as the morning moves on their joints their ligaments grow less stiff.

ANNOUNCER: Inflammation of ligaments and tendons is also a common feature. Symptoms can be erratic.

PHILIP MEASE, MD: A person may go for periods of time where the problem is not too great. They can do their things as they normally would. But other times, it can hit them hard, and they just can't do normal functions because of the pain.

ANNOUNCER: Psoriatic arthritis can involve virtually any joint, but most commonly it affects the extremeties or the spine.

BRUCE STROBER, MD: That could be a finger, it could be a toe, it could be the ankle, knee. It doesn't have to be lots of toes or fingers; it could be one. It could be just one of your ankles. It could be just your lower back or the spine. It could be the neck.

ANNOUNCER: There is no specific test for diagnosising psoriatic arthritis.

BRUCE STROBER, MD: And it requires the clinician, either the rheumatologist or the dermatologist, to put together many different pieces of a puzzle and arrive at the diagnosis correctly.

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