There is considerable amount of research going on with stem cells to treat rheumatoid arthritis.Stem cells from the umbilical cord and bone marrow have shown proof of concept in improvement in rheumatoid arthritis.

Take a look at this review!

Rheumatism is a good substitute name for fibromyalgia; now, called central pain processing disorder. It is NOT an immunological disease; rather, a dysfunction of the spinal cord, or the brain, or both in how signals are processed. Weather modulation, etc. were reported in sufferers of "rheumatism" and fit rheumatism symptoms very well. Generally, these were diseases of older people; however, younger and younger individuals now seem to be affected more recently.

I.e. "rheumatism" equals fibromyalgia.

Rheumatism is a vague nonspecific term- if you mean aches and pains by this word, it has many causes- so one has to be very clear by this term

Rheumatism is a non-specific term that encompasses any aches and pains around the joints. Usually, when doctors use the term, it means non-arthritic conditions causing pain around joints e.g. ligament sprains such as tennis elbow, shoulder tendinitis, non-specific back pain, and can include soft tissue conditions such as fibromyalgia. Arthritis is the preferred term for diseases that affect the joint itself/inside of the joint.

So, the answer to your question depends on whether you are thinking of rheumatism or arthritis. In some types of rheumatism e.g. tennis elbow, can recover after treatment and thus be "cured" i.e. require no further medication. However, arthritis, where there is pathology/problem inside the joint is more persistent, and "cure" is usually not possible. However, there are many treatments now that will stop or delay the progression of many of the inflammatory arthritis (such as rheumatoid arthritis / psoriatic arthritis / ankylosing spondylitis to name a few). You mention non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - these are usually given to relieve pain. In the inflammatory arthritides, control of inflammation will usually reduce pain and swelling and thus reduce the need for pain-killers such as NSAIDs.

Depent on the type of RD there more than 100 type . For Rheumatoid Arthritis , it is not curable but now it is easy to induce remmision thanks to biologic agent and anti CD 20 like Rituximab , For AS also quit the same . Rective Arthritis should be focus on trigger bacterial or other infection agent , might be also induce remmision event cureable. best regards

I agree with above. Rheumatism is a vague and confusing term, and it does not mean much. In other words, do you mean inflammatory arthritis in young adults, non-inflammatory panful conditions such as fibromyalgia and local tendinitis, PMR (polymyalgia rheumatica) in the elderly, statin-induced musculoskeletal symptoms, generalized osteoarthritis, etc? It should be noted that the journal A & R (Arthritis and Rheumatism) has recently changed its name to Arthritis and Rheumatology, still A & R, precisely to get rid of the confusing "rheumatism" terminology.

Before asking if rheumatism is a curable disease, we must ask: ”Is rheumatism a disease”.

Rheumatism is not a disease, rheumatic diseases are. They comprise more than 100 different entities with different pathogeneses, symptoms, and treatments.

In medicine in general, apart from infectious diseases, nothing is curable. Metabolic diseases (e.g. diabetes), heart diseases, gastro-intestinal, pulmonary diseases..etc.. are generally chronic or recurrent, with few examples of acute transient problems. The same applies to rheumatic diseases.

Medical doctors do not provide cures: they try to alleviate pain, improve quality of life and increase life expectancy. I think we managed to reach these three goals to a great extent over the past few decades. E.G. we do not treat rheumatoid arthritis as we used to do 40 years ago. Many breakthrough drugs changed the life of patients for the best.

Dear Dr. Khoury, I agree with your comment about the treatment of RA. In fact, I said nothing about how to treat anything, and therefore, do not understand why you directed this comment to me. I am a practicing rheumatologist,

Dear Dr Gonzalez, I certainly did not direct my comment to you. I was quoting the initial question which is 1. Rheumatism being a disease 2. This "disease" being curable or not. I tried to address both issues. Thank you for pointing out the new name for the reputable journal "Arthritis & Rheumatism"; I did like the change in name to "Arthritis & Rheumatology" very much.

Thank you. I think I now understand; you wrote EG, as meaning for example, or e.g., and I thought you were addressing your comment to me since my initials are EG. My best wishes,

Dear Dr. Emilio González:

... Do we happen to know each other back from the eighties at the Univ. of Colorado Medical Center...?

If so, I would like to contact you and update these three decades... !!

Juan, yes, I remember you well; please send me your email adress so I can contact you; best regards,

Dear Dr. Bader and colleagues:

Please excuse my previous personal deviation out of the subject, but this accidental encounter of old chaps, has been quite emotional, as you can all imagine, and man, does not live of science alone... !

Now getting back to the question and considering precedent answers, I think this problem posed, could be discussed in an easier and simpler manner by approaching to it from the healthy and pathological inflammatory response and process.

In fact, historically, true rheumatism is a name reserved for Rheumatic Fever and mainly its arthritis component. All the other joint and soft tissues clinical entities of unknown etiology were referred later on as “Rheumatoid conditions”, in which the suffix “oid” etymologically means “alike” or “similar to”.

All these diseases are mediated by an unhealthy inflammatory status, more or less generalized and different etiologies, intensities, activity patterns or durations, ranging from organ specific to systemic tissue damage. Nevertheless, local or organ specific inflammation, induces a systemic set of general, undifferentiated or more specific clinical symptoms and alteration of well-known serological parameters, being both type of indicators most useful for the medical diagnosis and follow up of patients response to therapy and subsequent prognosis.

We all know from experience, that in many cases and situations, local or systemic inflammatory activity (ie: concomitant infections), whether new and or from a different cause, can flare up any pre-existing or undercurrent rheumatoid one, even those which I think by mistake are called today “non inflammatory”, as fatigue, diffuse aches and pain, are certainly symptoms of some hidden inflammation affecting nerves and muscles, probably in a deeper level of structures through a more subtle pathophysiological mechanism not yet found, as suggested by some partial responses to non-very specific therapeutic agents.

As the purpose of this forum is to go beyond data, also sharing personal thoughts and experiences, I have found that all about Rheumatism, rheumatology, rheumatics and rheumatologists makes more sense when seen from this broader perspective.

Many thanks again to R & G and to all of you, for this interesting and kind opportunity,

Juan C. Bertoglio./

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