Children's and youth rheumatology

"Rheumatism is not just a disease of adulthood. Children and adolescents also suffer from various rheumatic diseases. They do not always express themselves in the same way as adults do.

In young children, for example, a regression in development (child no longer walks), an asymmetrical gait pattern, a gentle posture when supporting or avoiding hard food (child no longer bites the apple) can be a first indication of a rheumatic disease.

Diagnosis of childhood rheumatism and juvenile rheumatism

Most rheumatic diseases in childhood are diagnosed by an exclusion diagnosis. For this purpose, a comprehensive child rheumatological examination is carried out in our Hamburg practice, including an exact anamnesis, full-body examination, exclusion of infections and age-appropriate joint status.

The final diagnosis is then made on the basis of an overview of the patient's medical history, clinical findings, laboratory tests, imaging, further examination findings and the course of the disease. Rheumatic diseases in childhood are now well treatable in almost all cases with early diagnosis and adequate therapy, so that chronic long-term damage can be prevented.

The following illnesses in children and adolescents are treated:

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (infantile rheumatoid arthritis)
Systemic arthritis or Still's disease
Reactive Arthritis, Rheumatic Fever, Post-Streptococcal Arthritis and Lyme Arthritis
Juvenile spondyloarthritis; Bekhterev's disease
Arthritis in immunodeficiencies
Uveitis (rheumatic eye inflammation)
Non-bacterial bone inflammation; chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis, rare syndromes (SAPHO syndrome, PAPA syndrome)
Autoinflammatory syndromes or fever syndromes (e.g. familial Mediterranean fever and CAPS, TRAPS, HIDS, PFAPA)

collagenoses (connective tissue diseases) and autoimmune diseases, e.g. systemic lupus erythematosus, juvenile dermatomyositis, Sjögren's syndrome, scleroderma, antiphospholipid syndrome
Vasculitis (vascular inflammation), e.g. Purpura-Schönlein-Hennoch, Kawaskis syndrome, Panarteriitis nodosa, ANCA-associated vasculitis (Wegener's disease, Churg-Strauss syndrome, microscopic polyangiitis), Takayasu arteriitis, Behçet's disease
Sarcoidosis, Blue Syndrome
Chronic pain enhancement syndromes
hypermobility syndrome