Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis [Video]

Rheumatoid arthritis causes painful swelling in the body. “It’s more common as we get older, but it’s an auto immune disease,” said Independent Musculoskeletal Radiologist Dr. Jamel Ksar. Inflammatory arthritis is 2-3 times more prevalent in women than men. It mainly attacks a person’s joints, but it can also cause problems in the lungs, heart, and eyes. “If you don’t get treated early for inflammatory arthritis, it may progress to a severe form of disease which can lead to debilitation and inability to use joints in a pain-free manner.”

It’s important to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis within 6 months of the onset of symptoms to slow the disease progression. “In order to adequately treat rheumatoid arthritis. We need to be able to see things in the early stages,” said Dr. Ksar.

An X-Ray only shows findings in the late stage. An MRI shows it in the middle stage. Dr. Ksar said an Ultrasound is the best way to find it early. “To see early inflammatory arthritis, you need very high-resolution imaging. Ultrasound is that. We can detect early signs of inflammatory arthritis on ultrasound before we can detect them with other imaging modalities that’s important because you can get early treatment.”

Medications can slow the disease and prevent joint deformity, but being physically active, maintaining a healthy weight, and quitting smoking have been proven to increase quality of life. Lee Health’s rheumatology clinic can help you manage that pesky pain. You can learn more by searching for rheumatology on leehealth.org.

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Lee Health in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of health care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For more than 100 years, we’ve been providing our community with personalized preventative health services and primary care to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.

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