Undifferentiated connective tissue disease
1. Big picture
Undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD) is an early or incomplete systemic autoimmune disease. The patient has real autoimmune features and positive immune serology, but does not yet fulfill classification criteria for a defined connective tissue disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjögren syndrome, systemic sclerosis, mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), or inflammatory myopathy.
The examiner wants you to say:
UCTD = autoimmune symptoms + autoantibody positivity + insufficient criteria for a specific systemic autoimmune disease + follow-up because it may evolve.
In the attached question file, UCTD/NDC is diagnosed when there are two typical autoimmune clinical symptoms such as polyarthritis, sicca symptoms, or Raynaud phenomenon, together with immune serology positivity, e.g., ANA positivity.
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