Rheumatology is a branch which deals with the diseases of the musculoskeletal system caused by improper functioning of our immune system. Although treatment of most rheumatic diseases is possible today, rheumatic diseases require chronic follow-up, since those diseases are chronic diseases. Rheumatology is a specialty after three years of rheumatology training when internal disease specialty is fulfilled. Since a rheumatologist is also an internal medicine specialist, s/he has the capacity to diagnose and treat rheumatic diseases including various internal organ involvements such as heart, kidney, lung, liver, gastrointestinal system etc.
The diseases investigated in our Rheumatology Department are listed below:
1- Rheumatoid arthritis
2- Ankylosing spondylitis
3- Other seronegative spondyloarthritis (psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, enteropathic arthritis, Reiter's syndrome)
4- Behçet's disease
5- Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF)
6- Connective tissue diseases (Systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, mixed connective tissue disease, sjogren's syndrome, dermatomyositis, polymyositis)
7- Antiphospholipid syndrome
8- Vasculitis
9- Acute joint rheumatism
10- Crystal arthritis (gout, pseudogut)
11-Infectious arthritis
12. Amyloidosis
13-Metabolic and degenerative diseases (osteoarthrosis, osteoporosis, osteomalesis, Paget's Disease)
14-Rheumatic findings of other systemic diseases