Some of the common rheumatological disorders include rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis
Al Ain: Al Ain Hospital, owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA) and managed by Vienna Medical University and VAMED, launched a Rheumatology Clinic today.
This specialist clinic is devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of rheumatic diseases which are disorders involving joints, soft tissues, autoimmune diseases, vasculitis (a condition in which there is inflammation of the blood vessels, they may be damaged by the inflammatory process) and heritable connective tissue disorders.
"The clinic deals with the management of all rheumatology cases including the diagnosis and management of common disorders like early inflammatory arthritis, including early rheumatoid arthritis," explained Mr. George Jepson, CEO of Al Ain Hospital.
"The term Rheumatism is generally used to describe any painful disorder affecting the loco-motor system, especially joints, muscles, connective tissues and soft tissues around the joints and bones," said Prof. Gerhard Schwab, Medical Director of Al Ain Hospital.
Some of the common rheumatological disorders include rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Often the term rheumatism is also used to describe rheumatic fever affecting heart valves.
"With the discovery of new disease modifying agents called biologics, which are now commonly used for treatment of patients suffering from chronic and disabling joint disorders, rheumatologists all over the world are now capable of treating most of the chronic rheumatological disorders with a much better outcome for the patients," explained Dr Jamal Teir, Consultant Rheumatologist at Al Ain Hospital.
"Keeping pace with the latest medical trends worldwide, we, at Al Ain Hospital, do provide biologic treatment for patients with persisting active inflammatory arthritis," added Dr. Teir.
Al Ain Hospital is also in the process of acquiring some of the state of the art equipment used in the treatment of rheumatological disorders. "We are getting a musculoskeletal ultrasound which helps in early detection of inflammatory arthritis," said Dr. Teir.
One of the specialties of the Rheumatology Clinic is the diagnosis and management of crystal arthritis including gout and pseudogout.
Crystal arthritis is the disease of a joint caused by the deposition of crystals in the joint while gout is a medical condition usually characterized by recurrent attacks of acute inflammatory arthritis--a red, tender, hot, swollen joint caused by elevated levels of uric acid in the blood which crystallize and are deposited in joints, tendons, and surrounding tissues.
Other common disorders that are diagnosed and managed at the clinic are psoriatic arthritis is a type of inflammatory arthritis which will develop in up to 30 percent of people who have the chronic skin condition psoriasis, and ankylosing spondylitis, which is a form of spondyloarthritis, that is a chronic, inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune disease.
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About Al Ain Hospital
Al Ain Hospital is a 412 -bed acute care hospital with more than 250 physicians on staff, 35+ medical departments and three Family Medicine Centers. The hospital's emergency room serves the Al Ain community by operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year round. Al Ain Hospital is committed to providing the community with high-quality healthcare in a safe, caring, confidential environment in line with European world class standards and the expectations of the Al Ain community and the UAE.
Each day, an average of 250 patients is seen in the Emergency Room. With more than 320,000 outpatients seen in the Specialty Outpatient Clinics and Family Medicine Centers, the hospital is a key competency centre for multidisciplinary, specialist, ambulatory and outpatient diagnostics and treatment services. Al Ain Hospital is managed under an exclusive partnership between VAMED (a leading European Hospital Management company) and, Medical University of Vienna. In addition to this, Al Ain Hospital has a long established prestigious collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University in Al Ain. Al Ain Hospital is owned and operated by an Abu Dhabi Health Services company (SEHA) which is responsible for all curative activities of the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
For more information please visit; www.alain-hospital.ae
About the SEHA HealthSystem and the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA)
SEHA is health in Arabic. The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC- whose marketing identity is SEHA - is an independent, public joint stock company created to develop the curative activities of the public healthcare system in Abu Dhabi. The company owns and operates all the public hospitals and clinics of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi which together make up the SEHA HealthSystem. SEHA is committed to continuous improvement of customer care to recognized international standards and providing our customers and communities served world class healthcare. SEHA has partnered with internationally recognized hospital managers to achieve these goals. These include Johns Hopkins Medicine International, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, VAMED, Medical University of Vienna, Bumrungrad International and Fresenius Medical Care. SEHA owns and operates 12 hospitals with 2,644 beds, 62 ambulatory care, family care and urgent care centers and 2 blood banks. SEHA is one of the largest integrated healthcare providers in the Middle East with more than 17,000 doctors, nurses, ancillary care and administrative personnel in its employ. Visit our website at www.seha.ae.
© Press Release 2011
