Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systemic inflammatory arthritis of auto-immune origin that affects primarily the synovial joints, usually in a symmetrical pattern. It is the most common and most serious of the inflammatory arthritides, and it dominates clinical rheumatological practice (Silman 2002). Current evidence shows that prompt diagnosis and early instigation of definitive disease-modifying treatment can delay or avoid progression and enable patients to retain function that would otherwise be lost in this progressive and frequently disabling disease
