[New knowledge and clinical trends in the diagnosis and therapy of inflammatory rheumatism]

Progress in the diagnosis of forms of inflammatory rheumatism represent not only a semantic problem reflected by the changes in and differentiation of rheumatological nosology. The line of demarcation between reactive forms of arthritis and chronic, destructive processes--the chronic polyarthritis (RA) model--is decisively important from a therapeutic point of view. Knowledge regarding rheumatoid joint destruction is not only the prerequisite for an understanding of radiological morphology, the loss of form and function but also forms the bridge to rheumatic orthopedics. This connection between internal rheumatology and orthopedic rheumatology--the "Rheumatism center" model--represents the recent types of progress made in the long-term treatment of chronic joint disease. Corresponding models and hypotheses are presented with regard to an effective therapy structure for rheumatic diseases.