Of 173 patients, mostly suffering from collagen diseases and rheumatoid disease, the HBs antigen (HBsAg) was present in 1.73%. This figure is no higher than that observed among blood donors from the same area (Naples and surroundings). One HBsAg positive patient suffered from chronic active hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis; another from chronic active hepatitis and a secondary type of reticuloendotheliosis; the third was one of seven patients with psoriatic arthritis. HBsAg was not found in any of 48 patients with other collagen diseases, including 22 patients with Progressive Systemic Sclerosis. These data do not support the hypothesis based on observations of polyarteritis nodosa that HBsAg plays an ethiopathogenetic role in collagen diseases with serious vasculitis.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Beta-cyclodextrin-piroxicam in the treatment of the active phase of osteoarthritic pathology].

The anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of the beta-cyclodextrin-piroxicam (beta CDP) complex was assessed in a randomized single-blind controlled parallel study vs nabumetone (NAB). Forty patients, 18 men and 22 women aged 18 to 65 and suffering from chronic osteoarthritis, were treated. Both drugs were orally administered, once a day in the morning, for 4 consecutive weeks. PI and SPID, evaluated for 24 hours following the first drug administration, showed a quicker onset of the analgesic action of beta CDP, with statistically significant differences between treatments (p less than 0.05). In the medium-term treatment, beta CDP proved to be more effective on joint swelling, spontaneous pain, pain on passive movement and functional limitation. Both treatments were well tolerated but a higher gastro-intestinal side-effect incidence was recorded in NAB group.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Acute pancreatitis as the initial manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus.

A 20-year-old female with three laboratory ARA criteria pro SLE (LE cells, FANA, and positive Coombs test with hemolytic anemia), not under steroid therapy, developed polyarthritis, erythematous rash and acute pancreatitis simultaneously. The latter regressed with high doses of 6-methylprednisolone. Twenty-five months after remission of pancreatitis, no new clinical manifestations (of SLE) have appeared. In another 74 cases of SLE with an average follow-up of 3 years and 8 months there were no other cases of pancreatitis.

Acute Disease↗