How to investigate: Chronic pain
Abstract Chronic pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience persisting longer than the normal process of healing, usually longer than 3 months. About a fifth of the…
How to investigate multisystem disease
Abstract The investigation of the patient with possible systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease is potentially one of the most challenging areas of rheumatology as the differential diagnosis is potentially very broad….
How to investigate rheumatological diseases?
Several factors make it difficult and challenging to investigate rheumatological diseases: 1. The wide array of investigations currently available. 2. The variable access to investigations across the globe and their…
Pain in primary Sjögren’s syndrome
Abstract Joint and muscle pain are commonly observed in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS). Different types of pain can be distinguished, that is, articular pain, neuropathic pain and widespread…
Pain in systemic connective tissue diseases
Abstract Pain is frequent in patients with connective tissue diseases (CTDs), particularly those affected by systemic sclerosis (SSc) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in which it is virtually ubiquitous and…
Neuroimaging of chronic pain
Abstract Chronic pain is an important public health problem, and there is a need to understand the mechanisms that lead to pain chronification. From a neurobiological perspective, the mechanisms contributing…
Pain in systemic inflammatory rheumatic diseases
Abstract The sometimes intense, persistent and disabling pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis frequently has a multifactorial, simultaneously central and peripheral origin, and it may be due to…
Update on the genetics of the fibromyalgia syndrome
Abstract Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS), a condition characterized by chronic widespread pain and tenderness, is a complex condition considered to represent a paradigm of centralized pain. FMS has demonstrated a clear…
Diagnosing and treating chronic musculoskeletal pain based on the underlying mechanism(s)
Abstract Until recently, most clinicians considered chronic pain to be typically due to ongoing peripheral nociceptive input (i.e., damage or inflammation) in the region of the body where the individual…
The impact of pain on systemic rheumatic diseases
Abstract Pain is associated with the different types of rheumatic syndromes because it is often the most troubling symptom of patients affected by any of these diseases. Some risk factors…
