The Starship Paediatric Rheumatology service is primarily an outpatient service that sees patients in outpatient clinics at Starship and some regional centres. Patients may occasionally be seen while admitted to hospital or in the DayStay Unit.
The service is part of the New Zealand Paediatric Rheumatology Service, and provides specialised care for children and young people with rheumatology conditions in the greater Auckland region, the upper North Island and the Far North.
The rheumatology team includes specialist doctors, a clinical nurse specialist, physiotherapist and occupational therapist. They also work closely with other paediatric specialists when required.
What is Rheumatology?
Rheumatology is the specialty of medicine that includes autoimmune and autoinflammatory conditions including arthritis. The term arthritis refers to the inflammation of a joint in the body. An autoimmune or autoinflammatory condition is where an abnormality in the immune system leads to the body’s defence harming its own cells by mistake.
Common Conditions
Paediatric Rheumatology encompasses a wide variety of inflammatory and non-inflammatory conditions of the musculoskeletal system (muscles and joints) as well as conditions of non-infectious multi-system inflammation.
The types of conditions cared for by the Rheumatology team include:
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)
- Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)
- Vasculitis (e.g. Kawasaki, Behcet's)
- Connective tissue disease (e.g. juvenile dermatomyositis, scleroderma)
- Autoinflammatory conditions (e.g. chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis, periodic fever syndromes)