Week 1 (Jason Guss)

I am not a 100% sure what we are supposed to blog about but I will tell about the best thing that I did so far this week. I went to a comprehensive arthritis program (CAP) clinic where orthopedic surgeons and rheumatologists meet to discuss an interesting case that requires both of their expertise. The case is described in detail initially and then the patient is actually brought out on stage and examined. The patient that I saw had severe Rheumatoid arthritis but also potentially needed a knee replacement and so this meeting was required.  There was a discussion as to how the patient would do if surgery was performed, as well as how much of the problem resulted from the inflammatory symptoms and how much was a result of age/mechanical wear. Afterwards treatment options and complications are discussed extensively and after a debate a consensus is reached for the best treatment, whether it be surgical intervention, medication, physical therapy, or a combination. I found it interesting to hear how the concerns of the doctors varied significantly depending on what their backgrounds were in.  It did seem that the opinions of the rheumatologists and the orthopedic surgeons did not always match and so this made for an interesting dynamic.