Rheumatoid arthritis pathology sounds scary, doesn't it? That's because it is, to somebody who is suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. A pathologist is a doctor specialized in diagnosing diseases from bits of body tissue and vials of bodily fluids. You usually see them on television helping a detective try and figure out if a corpse was murdered or died of a disease. But mostly, pathologists work with people who are still alive and can pay their bills.

So, What Is It, Then?

Around the joints, home to rheumatoid arthritis, is something called the synovial fluid. Remember in the preceding paragraph I mentioned that pathologists look to fun stuff like bodily fluids to help diagnose disease? Well, there you go. Another aspect of rheumatoid arthritis pathology is seeing if it has moved to other parts of the body like internal organs.

Rheumatoid arthritis, although still quite mysterious, is considered a disease of the body's immune system. It basically makes the immune system go hyperactive, attacking even the body it is supposed to protect. This is why people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis often has many other physical complaints like gastritis or benign growths in the lungs. Rheumatoid arthritis pathology helps trace the course of the disease inside an individual's body.

What About Other Diagnostic Tools For RA?

When you go to get tested for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), you won't usually get your synovial fluid tapped and shuttled off to a rheumatoid arthritis pathology lab. You usually get a blood test and an imagining test on your feet. It is only in very difficult to diagnose cases or in cases where it's thought that the RA has spread to the inner organs that the rheumatoid arthritis pathology lab is called in.

There is no one definitive diagnostic test for rheumatoid arthritis. If there was, there would be a lot of dancing in the streets – well, for those who could who manage it. Currently, the blood test is not to find any mythical rheumatoid arthritis blood levels – it checks for anemia. About 80% of people with RA also have anemia.

And what about the feet testing thing? Your pain might be in your spine, your neck, your hips or your hands, but these goofy doctors are insisting on X-raying your feet. If you're lucky, it'll be an MRI of your feet and won’t that make your health insurance company happy? Anyway, there is a method to this madness. There are physical changes in the feet that signal the presence of RA. These changes show up in the feet before anywhere else.

Does that mean you can look forward to pain in your feet? Sadly, yes.