Institute of Rheumatology
- Systemic diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, vasculitis, lupus erythematosus, myositis).
- Fever of unknown origin
One of the most rapidly advancing fields in medicine is rheumatology — a science that has united internal medicine, immunology, neurology, and many other disciplines, since the diseases it represents affect multiple organ systems, which is why they are called systemic diseases. The basis of these diseases is the attack of antibodies against the body's own tissues and, as a consequence, disruption of anatomy and function — an inflammatory process.
Diagnosis can be established through clinical examination, a precise spectrum of autoimmune markers (of which there are countless), and typically through biopsy of the affected organ. Immunosuppression represents a new era in pharmacology that has displaced hormonal treatment and brought remission to the majority of autoimmune diseases. The introduction of biological agents such as Enbrel, Remicade, Humira, and MabThera has improved the quality and duration of life for hundreds of thousands of patients.
Systemic diseases imply damage to two or more organs. In rheumatological pathologies, the vascular wall is affected (vasculitis), leading to problems in virtually all organ systems, or connective tissue, which like vessels permeates all organ parenchyma (serositis). Each systemic disease has its own blood marker, and the immunological blood profile performed on every patient with a systemic disease reveals the full spectrum of rheumatological markers in the blood.
Biopsy methods allow differentiation between vasculitis and serositis and enable prescription of precise immunosuppressive therapy. A separate area of rheumatology is the science of arthritis — inflammatory joint diseases. Severe inflammatory joint problems restrict movement and sooner or later lead patients to complete immobility.
