Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA) and Psoriatic Arthritis(PsA)

The two conditions are very similar.  They both cause progressive joints damage, as a result of over active inflammation.  The major difference is PsA causes psoriatic skin lesions.  The experts are not sure why or where the connection is between the inflammatory responses that are responsible for joint pain and skin lesions.  However, many individuals with PsA notice that when there psoriasis is worse there arthritis is worse.  A stronger connection between the two diseases comes from one of this weeks articles entitled “ENHANCED AND COORDINATED IN VIVO EXPRESSION OF INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES AND NITRIC OXIDE SYNTHASE BY CHONDROCYTES FROM PATIENTS WITH OSTEOARTHRITIS” which examined tissue from knee biopsies in patients with osteoarthritis, traumatic knee arthritis, RA, and PsA for the presents of certain inflammatory mediators.  Their results showed   “No significant difference was noted between RA and PsA in synovial and cartilage staining, suggesting that the final pathogenic mechanism is similar in the two inflammatory arthritides”