Patient case (clinical description): A 66-year-old woman comes to the office due to joint pain in the hands and periodic morning stiffness that lasts less than 15 minutes.  The pain is moderately severe and worsens with daily activity. The patient used Tylenol with minimal relief.  Past medical history is notable for hypertension and hypercholesteremia.  Physical examination shows firm nodules over the distal interphalangeal joints, bilaterally. The patient has pain in her knees as well. The knees are stiff in the morning for less than 30 minutes and become worse with climbing stairs. She has some sensation of bone friction during activity. X-ray shows narrowing of the joint space, subchondral bone sclerosis and osteophyte formation along the joints.

Patient's own account: I'm a 66-year-old woman and I went to my doctor's office because of a bloody joint pain in my hands that has been lasting for a while. The pain comes and go in the morning usually. I feel like a stiffness that last less than 15 minutes. The pain is moderately severe but it gets worse when I'm using my hands. I used Tylenol which helped a little. Apart from that, I suffer from hypertension and high cholesterol. The doctor made me notice that I have bumps around both of my hand joints. I also suffer from my knees and they are also stiff in the morning for around 30 min. It's even worse when I climb up the stairs! I also feel like my bones are rubbing against each other when I'm moving. The X-ray showed that I have narrow joint space, I have sclerosis, and abnormal growths of bone along my joints.

Clinical trial: Proteomic Analysis in Sera From Patients With Erosive Hand Osteoarthritis

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

          -  Female gender

          -  Less than 70 years old

          -  Diagnosis of hand osteoarthritis according to ACR criteria ACR after exclusion of
             thumb base osteoarthritis:

               1. Hand pain, aching or stiffness most of the days during the preceding month

               2. Hard tissue enlargement of at least two of 8 selected joints *

               3. Hard tissue enlargement of at least two distal interphalangeal joint

               4. Swelling of fewer than three metacarpophalangeal joint

               5. Deformity of at least one of 10 selected joints * Patients have to fulfil
                  criteria 1, 2 AND 3 + 4 OR 5 * the 8 selected joints are the second and third
                  distal interphalangeal joint and the second and third proximal interphalangeal of
                  both hands Then confirm by experts' committee

          -  Exclusively symptomatic treatment

          -  For women of child-bearing age, use of an effective contraceptive method

          -  French spoken and read

        Exclusion Criteria:

          -  Male gender

          -  More than 70 years old

          -  Hemochromatosis

          -  Inflammatory arthritis

          -  Cristal induced arthritis

          -  Active diseases such as infection or cancer

          -  Use of DMARDs

          -  Pregnant or breast-feeding woman
Female
No healthy subjects accepted to join the trial.
Subject must be at least 18 Years old.
Subject must be at most 70 Years

Eligibility (NLI label): Entailment