Ronan Kavanagh MD MRCP (@RonanTKavanagh) writes:
"My patient is a middle aged professional, with no symptoms what so ever.
He is fit and healthy, a non smoker, has good teeth, eats well and has no family history of arthritis or autoimmune disease. So why is he seeing a rheumatologist?
He’s concerned about some results he has received from a genetic screening test. The test results suggest that his risk of developing two autoimmune diseases – rheumatoid arthritis and Scleroderma, conditions I frequently treat, is increased.
I’m at a slight disadvantage as this is the first time I’ve had has to counsel a patient in this situation.
There’s an additional complicating factor.
The patient is me."