Oligoarthritis

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Oligoarthritis is a type of arthritis defined by inflammation of two to four joints. It is also a name for a common form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis called pauciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Olig is Latin for “few,” differentiating it from polyarthritis, which affects five or more joints, and monoarthritis, which typically only affects one.

Septic arthritis is due to a bacterial infection to the joint. It requires urgent joint washout in the operating room followed by intravenous antibiotic therapy for large joints. Small joints or children can be treated with repeated aspirations and intravenous antibiotics.

In gout, the acute inflammatory arthritis is caused by excess uric acid caused by either overproduction or under-excretion. Before the age of menopause, women have a lower incidence than males, but the rates are equal above this age. Gout can cause mono- or polyarthritis, but usually results in monoarthritis first.

When monoarthritis is caused by pseudogout (calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease, CPPD), the inflammation usually lasts days to weeks, and involves the knees in half of all attacks. Like gout, attacks can occur.

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