[Polyarthritis - From symptoms to diagnosis].

Polyarthritis is defined by the palpable synovitic swelling of more than 4 joints. Polyarthritis is always due to a systemic disease and not a local process. Causes include a broad spectrum of rheumatic and infectious diseases with clearly different therapeutic options. It is also important to differentiate arthritis from osteoarthrosis. The objective of this paper is to give an overview on patient history, clinical presentation, diagnostic investigations and the differential diagnosis of the most common diseases that present as polyarthritis.