Preface

Arthritis is a common condition, which affects joints and tissues surrounding the joints. It affects the patients widely and is one of the most common causes of disability. The eBook volumne entitled “Rhematoid Arthritis; A systematic approach to arthritis of rheumatic diseases,” will provide a simplified but high-quality diagnostic interpretation of various radiographic images, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound. We hope to illustrate each disease by each volume, one by one. The contents of the series are based on my lectures that have been approved by our students and residents in Saga University, Japan. The diagnostic approach to make decision by conventional radiography is originated based on my experience of research and education in the division of the Rheumatology at the University of Pittsburgh, the U.S. However, arthritis images in the book are not only conventional radiographs but also images by multiple modalities. To make accurate diagnosis from radiographs, the methodology has been uniquely developed, through ABCDEGFGH (A; alignment, B; bone, C; cartilage, and D; distribution may be common, but E: extra-bone, F: further examination and G: goal and H; healing will be much more important) and improved by the experience of more than thousands of cases with rheumatic diseases in our institute.

In our various experienced cases, there are many interesting and rare cases. For example, there are a number of patients with Behçet’s disease with arthritis. Our cohort also includes cases of adult onset at Still’s disease (AOSD) with severe arthritis and are treated with various biologics and immunosuppressive drugs. Because we have established the diagnostic criteria of AOSD that has been approved world-widely, our hospital is one of the central institutes of AOSD in Japan and in the world. We have first proposed the method to prevent aseptic osteonecrosis of femoral head (AONF) induced by corticosteroid therapy in SLE patients. We found the novel marker of plasmablasts in IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD). We also found that plasmablasts should be the targets for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and various autoimmune diseases. We investigated new therapy for SLE and B cell targeting therapies. We performed ultrasound of the joints including hydro-US routinely (more than 1000 cases/ year) and published reports of ultrasound. These original findings will be included in our series of arthritis which may be interesting for rheumatologists, orthopedists, physiatrists, pediatricians and general physicians. The series of “Frontier in Arthritis” will broadly cover osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), SLE, juvenile arthritis, gout, systemic sclerosis, AOSD, Behçet’s disease and so on. We present a systemic approach to understand the frontier of arthritis and diseases.