What are the external symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the major chronic diseases. Rheumatoid arthritis has many obvious external symptoms that can help patients make self-diagnosis. So what are the external symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis? Let's take stock of them for everyone today.

1. Systemic symptoms

Systemic symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis may include fever and fatigue. Some patients may also suffer from complications such as rheumatoid arthritis and arteritis.

2. Rheumatoid nodules

About a quarter of rheumatoid arthritis patients have rheumatoid nodules, which are typical proliferative lesions outside the rheumatoid arthritis joints. They are usually hard, round nodules with a diameter of several millimeters to several centimeters. They are painless but affect the patient's normal activities.

(Rheumatoid arthritis is more than just arthritis)

Nodules are most commonly found in joint prominences and areas of frequent pressure such as the elbows, beaks, fingers, forearms, coccyx and ankle joints. They can also be found in the pericardium, endocardium, pleura, central nervous system and lungs. If the nodules occur outside the spinal cord dura mater, they may compress the spinal cord and cause paralysis.

3. Vasculitis

Vasculitis is more common in men and has a long course. Due to the high titer of rheumatoid factor and the decrease of toxin level in the blood, it often affects small and medium-sized arteries and veins. Most patients are accompanied by lymph node lesions and bone destruction, resulting in black fingers and ulcerated skin.

4. Internal organ damage

Rheumatoid arthritis can also cause damage to multiple organs, including the lungs, heart, and kidneys.

In the lungs, in addition to causing nodules, it can also lead to interstitial pneumonia and pulmonary fibrosis, pleural thickening, effusion, etc. In the heart, it can cause coronary artery lesions, inflammation of the cardiac parenchyma and valvular disease; in the kidneys, rheumatoid arthritis causes amyloidosis and parenchymal lesions of the kidney, resulting in symptoms of hematuria and proteinuria.

5. Others

In addition to the above-mentioned manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis can also affect the changes in various blood components, such as leukopenia, anemia, thrombocytosis, etc. Since rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic immune disease, it will naturally increase the chances of infection and tumor.

Although 20%-30% of patients with advanced rheumatoid arthritis will experience extra-articular manifestations, the incidence can be greatly reduced as long as rheumatoid arthritis is treated to the desired level.