Understanding Rheumatoid ArthritisRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a serious disease that will have a serious adverse effect on you and your family. Therefore, I am here to provide you with detailed information that will hopefully help you and your family deal with rheumatoid arthritis effectively. Kong Xiaodan, Department of Immuno-Rheumatology, The Second Hospital of Dalian Medical University Rheumatoid arthritis can cause joint pain and destruction. If left untreated, rheumatoid arthritis will cause you to lose your ability to work or even walk, in addition, rheumatoid arthritis will also bring heavy stress and burden to your family. Happily, significant progress has been made in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in recent years, with numerous new treatments becoming available. These new treatments not only relieve pain and other symptoms, but also prevent and stop joint destruction. Whereas rheumatoid arthritis treatment used to be focused on relieving symptoms such as pain, today’s newer treatments target the important factors that cause inflammation and bone destruction. In addition to reducing pain, these new treatments will help patients return to a healthy life. You are not alone in your fight against rheumatoid arthritis. In addition to your own motivation, your doctors, caregivers and family members will provide you with solid support and backing. Therefore, it is important that you and your family know about rheumatoid arthritis and its treatment. What is rheumatoid arthritis? Unlike other types of arthritis (such as osteoarthritis), rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, which means that your body’s immune system can attack your own healthy tissues in addition to fighting inflammation and other diseases. Rheumatoid arthritis can affect a certain type of tissue in the joint, the synovium, which acts as a cushion when the joint moves. Rheumatoid arthritis can cause inflammation and swelling of the synovium and damage other tissues in the joint. The swollen synovium and its accompanying joint destruction can lead to pain and joint deformity. As the disease of rheumatoid arthritis progresses, the pain, joint destruction and loss of motion will take you away from a healthy life. In addition to affecting the joints, the inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis can also affect other organs such as the skin, eyes, mouth, lungs, kidneys or heart. What are the causes of rheumatoid arthritis? Although research on rheumatoid arthritis has been ongoing for more than a century, scientists still do not know the exact cause of rheumatoid arthritis. It is now believed that rheumatoid arthritis may have multiple causes. Rheumatoid arthritis is not directly inherited and may have a genetic predisposition, which usually translates into disease onset only under specific circumstances or conditions. Currently, scientists are trying to clarify these specific conditions or circumstances, such as infections, injuries, hormonal changes and environmental factors. What is certain is that an immune system protein known as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is an important causative factor in rheumatoid arthritis. Under normal circumstances, TNF helps to remove germs and other foreign substances from the body. Scientists have found that most people with rheumatoid arthritis have too much TNF in their bodies, and that too much TNF initiates immune system processes that attack healthy tissue and cause inflammation. This leads to inflammation of the joints and eventually causes permanent and unknown joint destruction.