Chronic Inflammatory Polyarthritis – Decision Tool

Chronic Inflammatory Polyarthritis - Decision Tool
Note: This decision tool assumes a chronic (6+ weeks), inflammatory [link url="../../musculoskeletal/inflammatory-vs-noninflammatory/" memo="(go to decision tool)"], articular [link url="../../musculoskeletal/articular-vs-nonarticular/" memo="(go to decision tool)"] disorder that affects more than 3 joints.
[select name="Q1" value="|Yes|No"] <-- QUESTION 1: Is the arthritis SYMMETRICAL?[conditional field="Q1" condition="(Q1).is('Yes')"]
Findings in Rheumatoid Arthritis
1. PIP, MCP, and/or MTP joints involved
2. Rheumatoid nodules
3. Elevated Rheumatoid factor
4. Radiological evidence of RA
[select name="Q2" value="|Yes|No"] <-- Are any of the 4 findings in Rheumatoid Arthritis (above) present?[/conditional]

INTERPRETATION --> [conditional field="Q1" condition="(Q1).is('No')"]Evaluate for spondyloarthropathy [link url="../../musculoskeletal/spondyloarthropathy/" memo="(go to Spondyloarthropathy Calculator)"][/conditional][conditional field="Q1|Q2" condition="(Q1).is('Yes')&&(Q2).is('Yes')"]Rheumatoid arthritis is likely, can the diagnosis be confirmed? evaluate likelihood [link url="../../musculoskeletal/ra-likelihood/" memo="(go to Rheumatoid Arthritis Likelihood Calculator)"], check against RA criteria [link url="../../musculoskeletal/2010-ra-criteria/" memo="(go to 2010 Rheumatology Criteria Calculator)"], and order other tests if needed [link url="../../musculoskeletal/arthritis-tests/" memo="(go to Testing for Chronic Inflammatory Arthritides Calculator)"][/conditional][conditional field="Q1|Q2" condition="(Q1).is('Yes')&&(Q2).is('No')"]Evaluate for spondyloarthropathy [link url="../../musculoskeletal/spondyloarthropathy/" memo="(go to Spondyloarthropathy Calculator)"][/conditional][conditional field="Q1" condition="(Q1).is('')"]PLEASE ANSWER QUESTION 1[/conditional][conditional field="Q1|Q2" condition="(Q1).is('Yes')&&(Q2).is('')"]PLEASE ANSWER QUESTION 2[/conditional]
[checkbox memo="display/hide references" name="footnotes" value=""][conditional field="footnotes" condition="(footnotes).is('')"]
reference:  [link url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9455961" memo="Lipsky P. Algorithms for the diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal complaints: A new tool for the primary-care provider. Am J Med. 1997 Dec 29;103(6A):1S-2S."][/conditional]