BECAUSE there are more than 200 types of arthritis and rheumatic disease, diagnosis can sometimes be a problem.

But now doctors have a whole range of tests and techniques at their fingertips to make diagnosis easier, and to help them predict how a patient's arthritis will develop.

Leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign has produced a new booklet which explains the various forms of tests and imaging techniques available. Copies are available free from me.

JOANNE UNWIN, ARC, St Mary's Gate, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S41 7TD.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.