Rheumatoid arthritis

An autoimmune disease in which the lining of the joints (the synovium) becomes inflamed, swells and, untreated, erodes cartilage and bone. It starts in the small joints of the hands and feet, on both sides, most often in women aged 30–50.

ICD-10 M05.9On the joints3 stages

Installation

bunx shadcn@4.22.1 add @organui/rheumatoid-arthritis

This adds rheumatoid-arthritis.tsx, the disease's data and component, to your components directory. It is built on the disease viewer and reuses the models of the joints, which install with it.

View registry item JSON

Usage

import { RheumatoidArthritis } from "@/components/rheumatoid-arthritis"

export function RheumatoidArthritisDemo() {
  return <RheumatoidArthritis />
}

Every structure is a finding: affected structures are amber and spared ones muted. Select one, in 3D or in the panel, to read what the disease does there.

Course

Set stage or defaultStage to one of these. Each stage changes which structures are affected and the investigations to expect; the timeline under the model shows them in order, with the events along the way.

Early "early" · First 3 months
Painful, swollen, stiff small joints on both sides, with tiredness. Starting a disease-modifying drug now gives the best chance of remission.
- Referral (within 3 working days): Persistent swelling of small joints, or of more than one joint, is referred to a rheumatologist urgently, whatever the blood tests show.
- Methotrexate (as soon as possible): Methotrexate once a week (or leflunomide or sulfasalazine), with a short course of steroid to bridge the weeks before it works; folic acid on another day lowers its side effects, and bloods are monitored.
Affects 4 structures of the joints.
Remission "remission" · Within 6 months
Disease activity is checked every month and treatment stepped up until it is in remission. The joints stay intact and most people keep working.
- Treat to target: The DAS28 score is checked monthly and treatment escalated, with drugs combined, until the disease is in remission or low activity.
Affects 1 structure of the joints.
Or Joint damage "established" · Years, if uncontrolled
Inflamed synovium (pannus) has eroded cartilage and bone and stretched the capsules and ligaments, so the joints deform and lose function.
- Biologic: For activity that stays moderate or high despite conventional drugs: an anti-TNF drug, abatacept or tocilizumab, usually with methotrexate; rituximab usually after an anti-TNF. JAK inhibitors are avoided in people over 65, smokers and those at risk of heart disease, clots or cancer, unless there is no alternative.
- Surgery: Joint replacement for a destroyed knee or hip, and tendon repair or fusion in the hand and wrist.
Affects 6 structures of the joints.

Without Panel

Hide the panel to place the model in your own layout, and choose the scale and stage with props.

Controlled

Drive the stage, scale and selection from your own state, such as a patient's timeline.

API Reference

Import RheumatoidArthritisProps from the same file as RheumatoidArthritis.

RheumatoidArthritis props
Prop	Type	Default	Description
`scale`	`"joints"`	—	Control the scale shown.
`defaultScale`	`"joints"`	"joints"	Choose the scale shown first.
`onScaleChange`	`(scale: string) => void`	—	Receive the scale a reader chooses.
`stage`	`"early" \| "remission" \| "established"`	—	Control the stage shown.
`defaultStage`	`"early" \| "remission" \| "established"`	"early"	Choose the stage shown first.
`onStageChange`	`(stage: string) => void`	—	Receive the stage a reader chooses.
`selectedId`	`string \| null`	null	Control the selected structure ID.
`onSelectionChange`	`(id: string \| null) => void`	—	Receive selections from the model and the panel.
`panel`	`boolean`	true	Show the scales, findings and investigations beside the model.
`timeline`	`boolean`	true	Show the course under the model, with its events and a play button. A disease with one stage has none.
`className`	`string`	—	Set the layout of the model and the panel.

Other props, such as visibility, controls, defaultView and ref, go to the organ viewer.

Models and licences

The component code is MIT. Each model keeps its own licence, and the viewer shows its credit; see Licences before hiding it.

Joints: Z-Anatomy, based in part on BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, licensed under CC Attribution-Share Alike 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Educational, not for diagnosis or clinical decisions. The findings summarise typical disease; individual patients differ.