About the Department:

Patient services provided in the Department of Rheumatology are; the diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of rheumatological diseases. Rheumatological diseases are systemic and chronic (long-term) diseases that affect the musculoskeletal system, especially the joints and connective tissue, but they can also affect the internal organs. Rheumatology specialist (rheumatologist) is a physician who has received specialization training for 3 years and gained competence in the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of these diseases. 6 years of medical education and then 4 years of Internal Medicine or Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation specialization training is required, before the aforementioned rheumatology training, to become a rheumatology specialist in our country.

In our department, there are four faculty members, seven specialist doctors who are receiving specialization training, and on-rotation-internal-medicine-specialization-practitioners.

Various rheumatic diseases, especially the diseases listed below, are treated in our department:

-Ankylosing spondylitis / spondyloarthritis

– Rheumatoid arthritis

– Psoriatic arthritis (Psoriasis rheumatism)

– Vasculitides (vascular inflammation): Takayasu arteritis, Wegener’s granulomatosis.. etc.

– Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), antiphospholipid antibody syndrome

– Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) – Behçet’s Disease

– Gout and other crystal arthritis

– Connective tissue diseases – Sjogren’s Syndrome

– Scleroderma

– Raynaud’s Phenomenon

– Inflammatory muscle diseases (polymyositis / dermatomyositis)

– Polymyalgia rheumatica

– Fibromyalgia / soft tissue diseases

– Osteoarthritis (Calcification)

– Osteoporosis (Bone loss)

Inflammatory joint rheumatism, such as rheumatoid arthritis, presents with complaints in the form of pain, swelling, morning stiffness in the joints. If these findings are not treated effectively, they can lead to limitation of movement and deformity.

In rheumatological diseases such as spondyloarthritis, which affect mostly the spine, problems such as low back, back, neck pain, morning stiffness, reduction of complaints with movement, stiffness and heel pain can be observed.

In rheumatological diseases, not only joints-related but also internal organs-related complications can be encountered. For example, systemic lupus erythematosus can impair organs such as skin, lungs and kidneys. Behçet’s disease, which is common in our country, can cause aphthae in the mouth and in the genital area; and also inflammation of the eye (uveitis). Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) may present with episodes of abdominal pain and fever.

In addition, unexplained weight loss, fatigue, muscle weakness, dry eyes and mouth, and rashes may occur in association with rheumatological diseases. In order to obtain more information about these diseases that are treated by the Rheumatology Department, you can access the patient information site created by the Turkish Rheumatology Association (TRD) from the link:  http://www.romatology.org/patient.  And also you can review the TRD patient information booklets at the same link. Moreover, you can attend the patient information meetings that are held periodically by our department. You can find last meeting’s presentations for the patients in the appendix.

In our department, in addition to our outpatient units for the follow-up of all these diseases, a 10-bed service and a 6-bed biological treatment unit are provided. In our department, musculoskeletal ultrasonography, nailfold capillaroscopy, minor salivary gland biopsy and skin biopsy are performed for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

When necessary, interventional joint injections can be performed under ultrasound guidance. Movement measurement evaluations, that are used in the follow-up of patients with ankylosing spondylitis and spondyloarthritis, can be performed in company with our physician and nurse.