Correct diagnosis of arthritis plays an important part in the treating the disease. There are more than 100 types of arthritis. In order to manage the disease the doctor has to be certain about the type of arthritis one is suffering from.

The doctors take help of many measures for diagnosis of arthritis. Physical examinations, medical history, taking x-ray of the affected joint are some of the measures that a doctor takes into consideration.

In order to confirm or exclude a clinical diagnosis made by the doctor, blood test is done. If the blood test reveals that the patient has rheumatoid factor referred as the RF factor then the doctor can confirm the disease as rheumatoid arthritis.

There are other blood tests used for diagnosis of arthritis, namely anti cyclic citrullined peptide or CCP and erythrocyte sedimentation rate ESR. C-reactive protein CRP is the third blood test. If RF and CCP test are positive then retesting is generally not done. CRP and ESR blood tests are done frequently as they can tell the doctor whether the arthritis is in remission or active.

Diagnosis of arthritis is done by asking the patient to go for MRI. MRI is a non invasive way of diagnosis. Magnetic resonance imaging or MRI uses powerful magnets and radio waves to take the images of the body. Sometimes small devices or coils may be placed around the body part that is to be studied. This device is useful in sending and receiving radio waves thus gives more improved images.

Now taking help of MRI scan for diagnosis of arthritis is becoming more frequent. The x-ray or the radio graphs are helpful in determining the changes that have taken place in the joint. Sometimes minor changes are not visible in the x-ray. In this condition the MRI scan can be of great help. If minor changes are seen in the MRI scan report then the doctor may try and give more aggressive treatment to the patient and try and control the disease.

It is possible that the changes found in the MRI scan may not have any or very little clinical significance for the patient in the long run. The treatment may not be affected by the changes seen. It depends on the concerned doctor to interpret the changes seen in the MRI and also the need for doing the MRI scan as it is very costly test. The patient should ask questions on how MRI is going to help them before going in for MRI