The Rheumatology Division at The Floating Hospital for Children provides comprehensive services in diagnosis and treatment for infants, children, adolescent and young adults with arthritis and related inflammatory or autoimmune disorders. Each year, we see more than 1,000 patients in our outpatient clinic with diverse complaints such as fevers, rashes, joint pain, swelling or stiffness, muscle weakness and other musculoskeletal complaints, Raynaud’s phenomenon, abnormal laboratory results such as positive antinuclear antibodies, and other complex medical conditions.
Some of the inflammatory or autoimmune disorders that we care for include:
· Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, including psoriatic arthritis, spondyloarthritis, enthesitis –associated arthritis, reactive arthritis, arthritis of inflammatory bowel disease, and other conditions associated with arthritis such as rheumatic fever, post-streptococcal arthritis, Lyme disease, and viral or post-infectious arthritis.
· Systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, anti-phospholipid syndrome, pernio, scleroderma, morphea, mixed connective tissue disease, and overlap syndromes.
· Behcet’s disease, Sjogren’s syndrome.
· Vasculitides, from the common Henoch-Schoelein purpura and Kawasaki disease to more rare forms of vasculitis such as Wegener’s, Churg-Strauss, and PAN.
· Inflammatory fevers syndromes such as Hyper IgD, PFAPA, Familial Mediterranean Fever and TRAPS.
· Inflammatory bone disorders such as Caffey’s and Paget’s disease.
We also care for children with hypermobility syndrome, patellofemoral syndrome, and pain amplification syndromes.
Each child referred to our division is seen by a pediatrician specializing in the evaluation, treatment, and care of children with rheumatic or inflammatory diseases. Other members of our multidisciplinary team include a clinical nurse specialist, an occupational therapist, and a social worker.
Prompt consultations are available from:
· Orthopedics
· Rehabilitation Medicine
· Opthalmology
· Nephrology
· Dermatology
· Psychiatry
· Gastroenterology
· Pediatric and adolescent gynecology
· Dentistry
· Infectious Diseases
A comprehensive management plan with up-to-date therapeutic interventions is developed for each patient according to his or her individual needs and is implemented with the collaboration of the rheumatology team, the family, the family pediatrician or referring physician, occupational and physical therapists, and the child's school.
A pediatric rheumatologist is always on call for emergency consultations. He or she can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week by the primary physician, the emergency physician, the patient or the patient’s parents. Inpatient facilities, including intensive care, are available for the expert management of seriously ill children. An infusion center and several other programs are being developed for the benefit of patients and families.
A satellite clinic in Chelmsford was opened recently; and other satellite clinics are being considered to make our services more available to our community.
The Division is also active in training medical students, pediatric residents, and pediatric and adult rheumatology fellows. Since 1995, the Division has trained numerous pediatric rheumatology fellows in its ACGME training program.
For more information or appointments, call 617-636-7285.