what treatment of both symptoms and cause is there for an inflamed neck "peg"

[mf1942]

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Hi...

I suspect someone said this to you. Have you had any tests or was it presumed? Its important that any neck pain be fully investigated in someone with RA.

The odontoid peg is at the very top of the cervical spine where it meets the brain and in people with RA, the top two vertebrae are the ones mostly involved. That doesnt mean you may not get RA or OA elsewhere in the spine though.

To try and answer your questions - there are varying degrees of symptoms from slight to unbareable pain in the soft tissue (mild to severe inflammation) to neurological involvement (nerve damage or compression of the cord being the worst). Often there are arthritic changes to the bone, discs and ligaments which is why it needs to be looked at carefully.

Treatment depends on the amount of involvement, it could be just conservative rest and physio, but it could also be as serious as an urgent operation however you need an MRI (or at minimum, a CT scan) to see exactly whats happening.

Ive had 10 major and 8 minor spinal operations so if you want to know more, feel free to ask questions.

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Hi mf1942

Arthritis Research UK have some information on neck pain in general which you may find helpful. Included is information on treatments for neck pain and the diagnosis of this: arthritisresearchuk.org/art...

For more information it would be worth discussing things with your GP or rheumatology team.

Kind regards

Sarah Kate

NRAS