Step 1: The image shows a swan-neck deformity, which is hyperextension at the PIP joint with flexion at the DIP joint.
Step 2: This deformity, along with PIP involvement and DIP sparing, is classic for rheumatoid arthritis. RA characteristically attacks the MCP and PIP joints of the hand and spares the DIP joints, and chronic synovitis produces swan-neck and boutonniere deformities and ulnar deviation.
Step 3: Osteoarthritis does the opposite, it favours the DIP joints (Heberden nodes) and the PIP joints (Bouchard nodes) but does not give swan-neck deformity. Psoriatic arthritis classically involves the DIP joints with a pencil-in-cup change and dactylitis. Ankylosing spondylitis is an axial spondyloarthropathy of the spine and sacroiliac joints, not a small-joint hand deformity. The PIP-involved, DIP-spared swan-neck picture is rheumatoid arthritis.
Ref: Medscape, Swan-neck deformity in rheumatoid arthritis.