No abstract

Fifty-seven patients took part in a controlled double-blind trial between tiopronin and D-penicillamine as basic treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Thirty-nine (19 receiving tiopronin, 20 receiving D-penicillamine) completed the trial after 1 year. Both drugs resulted in a decrease of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Ritchie index, and Lee index and in a sparing effect on symptomatic antiinflammatory therapy. Improvement in these variables was statistically highly significant at any interval with tiopronin, but was sometimes less or not at all significant with D-penicillamine. Nevertheless, the difference in effects between the 2 drugs never reached statistical significance. Six patients receiving tiopronin and 6 receiving D-penicillamine were taken out of the experiment because of side effects.

Streptavidin/111In-biotin scintigraphy is highly sensitive and specific for detecting vertebral osteomyelitis in the first 2 weeks after the onset of clinical symptoms, and is potentially very useful for guiding clinical decisions on instituting appropriate therapy.

SUMMARY The case of a 45 year old woman affected by both Behqet's syndrome (BS) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is reported. Cervical spine involvement was observed long before the appearance of the sacroiliac and lumbar changes.

SUMMARY Two B27 positive patients developed peripheral arthritis immediately after a significant musculoskeletal injury. Unlike previously reported peripheral arthritis precipitated by trauma in B27 positive subjects the arthritis was rapidly destructive.