[PROBLEMS AND DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF SUBCUTANEOUS NODULES IN JOINT DISEASES].
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The aim of this study was to evaluate magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the wrist of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. MRI and plain X-ray of the wrists were performed in 15 patients with RA, 7 patients with another chronic inflammatory joint disease (CIJD), and 10 control subjects. Patients had only minor changes on plain X-ray. Coronal T1 weighted spin echo sequences were performed before and after an intravenous pulse of gadolinium (GD). Contiguous 3 mm thick slices were obtained. Synovitis was frequently objectivized in the two groups of patients. MRI detected far more erosions and central bone geodes than plain X-ray. Geodes were frequent among controls while cortical bone erosions were frequent in patients. Most of the erosions were enhanced after GD injection in the RA patients but not in the 2 other groups. Thus MRI is not only useful in diagnosing inflammatory changes of the wrist but also in distinguishing early stage RA from other CIJD.
The seriousness of articular diseases in old persons is related to the loss of function and the rapid way this can lead to them being bed ridden. Rheumatoid polyarthritis is often difficult to distinguish from rhizomelic pseudopolyarthritis, these two diseases resemble each other at this age with the asthenia and loss of general health, the inflammatory pains which are peripheral and of nerve root origin. Among the metabolic arthropathies, articular chondrocalcinosis is frequent, and often latent, but sometimes it is destructive in particular in the hips and knees; septic arthritis today mainly occurs in the elderly, and the algoneurodystrophies are more frequent in old persons than in young subjects, following trauma or a hemiplegia. Arthrosis is obviously the main articular disease of senescence especially involving the joints of the lower limb, hip disease being less incapacitating than knee disease where surgical treatment is less often considered. The arthroses of the upper limbs especially of the shoulder are well tolerated. Osteochondromatosis, osteonecrosis of the internal condyle of the knee, the rapidly destructive arthropathies and hemarthrosis can develop as a complication of a simple arthrosis. In the spine vertebral hyperostosis is especially a disease of the elderly, it can occur alone or with an arthrosis of the posterior vertebral joints, a narrow spinal canal straight or narrowed. Medical treatment, physiotherapy, and finally surgery can give very satisfactory results in an old patient, avoiding loss of function, a miserable existence and becoming bed ridden.
Hemosiderin deposition in the tissues of the musculoskeletal system is unusual, and deposition of these pigments in the menisci of the knee is extremely rare. Conditions that may predispose to these changes include rheumatoid arthritis, hemochromatosis, pigmented villonodular synovitis, hemophilia, and tuberculous arthritis. A 79-year-old woman developed extensive hemosiderin deposition in the medial meniscus of a knee. Hemosiderin within meniscal chondrocytes was associated with degenerative joint disease and suggested a cause and effect relationship.
An investigation was made into the possible contribution of autoimmune mechanisms to equine arthropathies. Serum and synovial fluid (SF) immune complexes and anti-collagen Type II antibodies were measured, by ELISA, in groups of horses with naturally occurring osteoarthritis (OA), osteochondritis dissecans (OCD), bone fracture, traumatised joints, synovitis, infected joints and non-diseased (control) joints. Significantly raised anti-collagen Type II antibodies were found in osteoarthritic (P < 0.02) and traumatised joint synovial fluids (P < 0.01) compared with the control, where ten of 38 (26%) OA and five of eight (63%) traumatised joint synovial fluid samples had raised anti-collagen Type II antibodies (above mean and 2 SD of control group; P < 0.05). Significantly raised levels of C1q-binding immune complexes were found in the synovial fluids of horses with OA (P < 0.001), OCD (P < 0.02), fractured articular bone (P < 0.001), infected (P < 0.01) and traumatised joints (P < 0.001) as compared with the control horses. Raised C1q-binding activity (above mean and 2 SD of control group; P < 0.05) was shown in synovial fluids in 18 of 38 (47%) OA, four of 16 (25%) OCD, four of nine (44%) fractured bone, one of eight (14%) synovitis, two of four (50%) infected joints and seven of eight (88%) traumatised joints. No raised anti-collagen Type II antibodies or C1q-binding activity were detected in sera from any clinical group. Correlations were found, in synovial fluids, between anti-collagen Type II antibodies and C1q-binding activity in OA (P < 0.02), synovitis (P < 0.01) and infected joint (P < 0.05) groups. Within individual horses, there were no correlations between the SF and sera measurements of either anti-collagen II or C1q-binding activity. The relationship between cause and effect of these immunological findings cannot be determined; as they are common to many types of equine joint disorder it is probable that they are not an initiating factor in pathology.
OBJECTIVE: A 16-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of a combination of glucosamine HCl (1,500 mg/day), chondroitin sulfate (1,200 mg/day), and manganese ascorbate (228 mg/day) in degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the knee or low back was conducted. METHODS: Thirty-four males from the U.S. Navy diving and special warfare community with chronic pain and radiographic DJD of the knee or low back were randomized. A summary disease score incorporated results of pain and functional questionnaires, physical examination scores, and running times. Changes were presented as a percentage of the patient's average score. RESULTS: Knee osteoarthritis symptoms were relieved as demonstrated by the summary disease score (-16.3%; p = 0.05), patient assessment of treatment effect (p = 0.02), visual analog scale for pain recorded at clinic visits (-26.6%; p = 0.05) and in a diary (-28.6%; p = 0.02), and physical examination score (-43.3%; p = 0.01). Running times did not change. The study neither demonstrated, nor excluded, a benefit for spinal DJD. Side effect frequency was similar to that at baseline. There were no hematologic effects. CONCLUSIONS: The combination therapy relieves symptoms of knee osteoarthritis. A larger data set is needed to determine the value of this therapy for spinal DJD. Short-term combination therapy appears safe in this setting.
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Magnetic resonance imaging permits accurate and non-invasive assessment of the internal structure of joints. Consequently, it is reducing the requirement for both arthrography and diagnostic arthroscopy in the evaluation of patients with suspected internal derangement of joints.
There is considerable evidence to indicate that the synovitis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is immunologically mediated. Recently, it has been postulated that a suppressor-type cell deficiency may play an important role in the pathogenesis of the synovitis. In addition, an immune component may contribute to the synovial alterations in certain examples of degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis, OA). Using monoclonal antibodies, we evaluated synovial tissue lymphocytes in 12 patients with RA, 2 with juvenile RA, one with adult Still's disease, and 2 patients with OA synovitis in order to delineate the T cell subset patterns. Helper-type cells predominated in 3 patients with RA, while suppressor-type cells were present in equal or greater numbers in 9. The patients with OA showed helper-type cell predominance. Helper-type to suppressor-type cell ratios vary widely in RA synovia which militates against the primacy of the role of a suppressor-type cell deficiency in this disorder. Patients with OA synovitis may display T cell infiltrates comprised mainly of helper-type cells.
Congenital insensitivity to pain is a very rare disease, often familial in nature. It may be brought to the orthopaedic surgeon's attention by some peculiar manifestation of the locomotor system, such as: spontaneous fractures, or those brought about by minimal trauma; epiphyseal detachment; extensive bone necrosis; osteomyelitis; joint disease with no evidence of infection, but with the clinical and radiographic features of neurogenic arthropathy. The cases of two brothers who were followed up for more than 25 years are presented. The study is completed by a brief review of current hypotheses on the etiopathology of the syndrome.
The method of osteosynthesis association was applied in 1,000 patients with sequelae of diseases and injuries of large joints and bones of the limbs. The results show that stable-functional osteosynthesis with compression plates is a very effective modern method of surgical treatment of patients with serious sequelae of injuries and diseases of the epi-meta-diaphyseal parts of the bone and must be used more extensively in practice.
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A self-administered hand test was used to screen 5262 persons aged 40-70 living in a rural district in southern Sweden. It revealed evidence of hand impairment in 13%. The prevalence of RA was 1.1%. At the screening procedure a subgroup of 48 previously unrecognized individuals with inflammatory joint disease was identified. They were assessed by a rheumatologist, who established the following diagnoses: four definite RA, eight probable RA, three psoriatic arthritis, one unclassifiable arthritis, 10 osteoarthritis and 22 non-specific arthralgia. No advanced RA was detected. Two were seropositive and another was erosive. One with RA, one with psoriatic arthritis and three with arthralgic symptoms were unable to work. Most had only a minor need for further medical aid. The test was thus able to identify persons with hand impairment. Follow-up studies will address the practical implications of the screening procedure.
In the human immune system, very late antigen 1 (VLA-1), a putative collagen receptor, is expressed on the surface of T lymphocytes that have undergone mitogenic or antigenic stimulation. A new VLA-1-specific monoclonal antibody, 1B3.1, was used to probe the expression and function of VLA-1 on T lymphocytes in patients with arthritis. Synovial mononuclear cells from the joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis or other joint diseases contained 32.9 +/- 13.8% 1B3.1-positive cells (42.8 +/- 10.4% in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 28 +/- 12.6% in non rheumatoid patients). In the peripheral blood, patients with active rheumatoid arthritis expressed VLA-1 on 11.7 +/- 6.0% of their mononuclear cells, compared to 1.9 +/- 1.5% in controls (P less than 0.001). Using dual fluorescence analysis, virtually all the 1B3.1-positive synovial cells were CD3+ T lymphocytes and included both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. When 1B3.1-expressing synovial mononuclear cells or in vitro activated T lymphocytes were triggered with anti-CD3 antibodies, marked augmentation of their proliferation occurred if they were simultaneously cross-linked with mab 1B3.1. Collagen type IV, a putative ligand of VLA-1, also augmented T-cell proliferation to anti-CD3. The data suggest that the VLA-1 molecule could play an important role in the pathophysiology of arthritis by modulating T-cell activation in these diseases.
Jean-Martin Charcot was one of the most celebrated French physicians of the 19th century. A masterful teacher and a captivating lecturer, Charcot created the foundations of neurology as an independent discipline, and transformed the Salpêtrière hospital, in Paris, into one of the world's greatest teaching centers for clinical neurologic research. His name is attached to the distinct pathologic entity, Charcot's joint disease, that he so meticulously described. This article reviews the highlights of Charcot's career and his clinicoanatomic studies of patients with tabetic arthropathies.
OBJECTIVE: Bacteria play a crucial pathogenetic role in Lyme arthritis (LA), reactive arthritis (ReA), other forms of spondyloarthropathy (SpA), and possibly in undifferentiated oligoarthritis (uOligo). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology has been applied to detect bacterial DNA of individual microbes in synovial fluid (SF) of patients with arthritides. We screened for DNA sequences of 8 bacterial species simultaneously in SF of patients with inflammatory joint disease. METHODS: We examined 104 SF samples of 96 patients with ReA (n = 13), undifferentiated SpA (uSpA, n = 10), uOligo (n = 50), juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA, n = 13), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA, n = 10). A nested PCR approach was developed to detect DNA sequences of 8 bacteria: Chlamydia trachomatis, C. pneumoniae, Yersinia enterocolitica, Salmonella enteritidis, Campylobacter jejuni, Shigella flexneri, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Borrelia burgdorferi. The detection limit was determined at 10 bacterial/sample. Serology and lymphocyte proliferation assay were done in parallel in most patients. RESULTS: In 12 cases bacterial DNA of B. burgdorferi (n = 7), C. trachomatis (n = 2), C. jejuni (n = 2), and C. pneumoniae (n = 1) was detected in patients with uOligo (n = 9) and JCA (n = 3), while no evidence of bacterial DNA was found in patients with ReA, uSpA, and RA. Shigella flexneri DNA was detected in 4 cases, but the significance of this finding remains uncertain due to the high sequence homology of this species with Escherichia coli. DNA of Y. enterocolitica, S. enteritidis, or K. pneumoniae was not found. A positive serologic response was found in 7/9 PCR positive patients. In 11/96 cases antibodies to 2 or more bacteria were found in parallel (11.5%). Antigen specific lymphocyte proliferation was observed in 5/9 PCR positive patients. CONCLUSION: Bacterial DNA was detected in peripheral joint of patients with uOligo and JCA, but not in ReA, uSpA, or RA in this study. The detection of bacterial DNA in synovial material by PCR technology gives useful diagnostic information, especially when antibodies against several microbes are present or antibodies are not detectable. Failure to detect bacterial DNA in patients with ReA and uSpA with longstanding disease suggests that in later stages autoimmune mechanisms may operate.
Hip fractures are common injuries in the elderly and are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. Although technical advances in the treatment of the elderly have resulted in improved fracture fixation and surgical outcomes, clinical pathways have been developed to further improve patient outcome while shortening hospital length of stay after hip fracture. We describe the clinical pathway used since 1990 at the Hospital for Joint Diseases. The outcomes of 747 patients treated before 1990 were compared with outcomes of 318 patients treated at our hospital after initiation of the clinical pathway. Use of the clinical pathway was associated with significant decreases in the acute care hospital length of stay, in-hospital mortality, and 1-year mortality.