Diagnosing Juvenile Pauciarticular Arthritis
More than half of the children who get arthritis receive a pauciarticular arthritis diagnosis. It begins before the age of five and mostly affects girls. Usually it is diagnosed between the age of 2 and 3. It is the mildest form of arthritis. It is also very hard to diagnose this arthritis.
---------Editor’s Note --------------------------------------------------
pauci means “few,” as in paucity, pauper
articular means “joint,” like articulating, articulation
Thus, pauciarticular means affecting few joints. In the instance of a clinical diagnosis, four or fewer joints must be affected.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Symptoms
It causes pain in four or fewer joints. The joints that are usually triggered here are the bigger joints like the knees, ankles, and wrists. These joints may be only mildly swollen or have no swelling at all. For this reason, children may not even complain that they are in pain.
When swelling occurs for more than three months, a doctor usually considers arthritis. Since it’s so hard to really notice, parents need to watch their kid closely if a limp develops or the child starts to favor a part of their body.
Eye Disease
Some kids will also get eye disease. It starts early in life. An eye disease will follow them into adulthood. A lot of those who have eye disease also have antinuclear antibody. This is something that attacks the cells in the body. It is found in the blood so your doctor will have to test your child’s blood. An eye doctor will need to watch their eyes so that more serious problems do not develop.
There are two things that can happen. First, the colored part of the eye can become irritated. Second, the black part of the eye can become irritated. This is why it is very important to have your kid’s eyes checked three or four times a year. If your kid has this arthritis, tell your eye doctor. Your eye doctor will use a slit-lamp to look at your child’s eyes to make sure that they are fine.
Testing for Arthritis
Diagnosing arthritis requires blood work to be done. Doctors check a kid’s blood for the rheumatoid factor. This is something that is found in the blood of someone who has rheumatoid arthritis. Most kids with pauciarticular arthritis will not have this in their blood. However, some kids do have it. These kids will continue to have problems with arthritis as adults. Blood work will also look at a kid’s white blood cell count, whether your kid is anemic and that your kid’s platelet level is not high.
The blood will look very normal. If not, then this type of arthritis is not what your kid has. After the blood work is done, the history of the kid also needs to be looked at very closely. The kid also needs to be examined very closely. The doctor will want to know when this started, when there is the most pain, and how long this has been happening.
After the history, an exam is done. The doctor wants to see if the joint is warm. The physician also wants to see if the joint is swelling, contributing to a loss of motion. In this way, the doctor is able to exclude anything else that may be wrong. It all leads to the doctor diagnosing your kid with pauciarticula arthritis.
There is usually no permanent damage from this variety of juvenile arthritus. Yet, a kid must be treated properly and as soon as possible. Usually these kids will be in remission within just a few years of their diagnosis. In this case, this arthritis will not occur again.
|
