[Rheumatoid arthritis: more than a joint disease]

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one of the most common autoimmune disorders, mostly manifests itself as polyarthritis. However, extra-articular organ manifestations can also occur, even though their incidence has decreased substantially due to effective treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. In this article we describe three patient cases of extra-articular manifestations in RA in the absence of prominent arthritis. The diversity of symptoms in RA can be of interest to different medical specialties who will occasionally encounter them in daily practice.