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Pan Afr Med J
Pan Afr Med J
PAMJ
The Pan African Medical Journal
1937-8688
The African Field Epidemiology Network

PAMJ-48-35
10.11604/pamj.2024.48.35.40672
Images in Clinical Medicine
A case of ulnar deviation (drift) in a patient with chronic rheumatoid arthritis
Deshpande Amol Madhav 1&https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4212-9892

Deshpande Mayuri Amol 2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6098-0897

1 Department of Rachana Sharir, Mahatma Gandhi Ayurved College Hospital and Research Centre, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to be University) Salod (H), Wardha, Maharashtra, India,
2 Department of Kayachikitsa, Mahatma Gandhi Ayurved College Hospital and Research Centre, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to be University) Salod (H), Wardha, Maharashtra, India
& Corresponding author: Amol Madhav Deshpande, Department of Rachana Sharir, Mahatma Gandhi Ayurved College Hospital and Research Centre, Datta Meghe Institute of Higher Education and Research (Deemed to be University) Salod (H), Wardha, Maharashtra, India. deshpandeamol86@gmail.com
30 5 2024
2024
48 3505 6 2023
21 5 2024
Copyright: Amol Madhav Deshpande et al.
2024
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Ulnar drift
ulnar deviation
rheumatoid arthritis
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pmcImage in medicine

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease which affects articular and extra-articular structures. It develops slowly in weeks to months, with the onset of signs and symptoms. The patient frequently first experiences stiffness in one or more joints, which is frequently accompanied by discomfort with movement and joint soreness. Although the total number of joints involved varies greatly, the process always ends up being polyarticular, involving five or more joints. A palindromic presentation is another pattern where patients report swelling in one or two joints that may last a few days or weeks before going away completely, only to subsequently return in the same or other joints with an increasing pattern over time. The hands' Proximal Interphalangeal (PIP) and Metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints, the wrists, and the tiny joints of the feet, especially the Metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints, are the joints most usually affected. A 62-year-old female patient came to the outpatient department of Mahatma Gandhi Ayurved College Hospital and Research Centre, Salod (H) with all the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis along with ulnar deviation in both hands. Clinical observation revealed an ulnar deviation.

Figure 1 A) ulnar drift - palmer aspect of both hands; B) ulnar drift - dorsal aspect of both hands

Cite this article: Amol Madhav Deshpande et al. A case of ulnar deviation (drift) in a patient with chronic rheumatoid arthritis. Pan African Medical Journal. 2024;48(35). 10.11604/pamj.2024.48.35.40672
