Who should see a Rheumatologist?

Rheumatologists are internists with special skills and training in the complex diagnosis and treatment of arthritis and rheumatic illnesses. They treat patients with disorders of the joints, muscles, tendons, bones and other connective tissues. There are more than 100 rheumatic diseases that rheumatologists treat, including degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis, inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, autoimmune conditions such as lupus and joint conditions such as gout and pseudo-gout.  Rheumatologists also evaluate patients for the presence of an underlying autoimmune disease in the setting of a positive anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), a test that may have been ordered by a primary care provider when a patient presents with symptoms in multiple organ systems in the body. Below is a comprehensive list of rheumatic diseases that rheumatologists treat, procedures they perform in the clinic and infusions provided in the chemotherapy suite for the treatment of rheumatic diseases.