Objective. An elevated acute-phase response is associated with increased radiologic damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but development of damage in previously normal joints ("new joint involvement") has not previously been investigated. This study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that when there is suppression of disease activity as judged by the C-reactive protein level, new joint involvement is reduced to a greater extent than is progression in already damaged joints ("damaged joint progression").Methods. Three hundred fifty-nine patients with active RA were studied as part of a 5-year randomized, prospective, open-label study of disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy. Time-averaged CRP was calculated from samples obtained every 6 months, and patients were divided into groups with CRP values of < < <6, 6-< < <12, 12-< < <25, and > > >25 mg/liter. Radiographs of the hands and feet were scored by the Larsen method; a damaged joint was defined as one with a score of > > >2.Results. The rank correlation between timeintegrated CRP and increase in Larsen score was 0.50; the correlation increased to 0.59 for patients entering the study with disease duration of < < <2 years. The percentage of new joint involvement over 5 years varied markedly with time-integrated CRP, from 7.3% in the CRP < < <6 mg/liter group to 39.1% in the CRP > > >25 mg/liter group (5.4-fold increase). The percentage of damaged joint progression increased from 26.1% in the CRP < < <6 mg/liter group to 41.6% in the CRP > > >25 mg/liter group (1.6-fold increase).Conclusion. The results of this study provide further confirmation that high CRP levels over time are associated with greater radiologic progression. Although radiologic progression still occurred in both previously normal and damaged joints despite the presence of normal CRP levels, this consisted of proportionately less new joint involvement compared with damaged joint progression. These findings support the idea that disease-suppressive therapy should be instituted at an early stage in patients with RA, before erosive damage has occurred.

No abstract

A 61-year-old woman with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis developed numerous ulcers due to pyoderma gangrenosum at suture entry/exit sites following an arthroplasty of the right hip when interrupted silk sutures were used to close the skin. When a subsequent arthroplasty was performed on the left hip and subcuticular Dexon sutures were used to close the skin only two small ulcers developed. Sixteen cases of pyoderma gangrenosum developing in surgical wounds have previously been reported. We recommend that surgery in patients with a history of pyoderma gangrenosum is performed when the pyoderma is clinically quiescent, and that subcuticular sutures are used for skin closure, thus avoiding puncturing the skin surface.

We examined HLA-DR genotype risk in 288 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were carefully categorized for disease severity. Five hundred ethnically-matched bone-marrow donors were controls. A hierarchy of positive allelic associations was noted with DRB1*0401 (p < 10(-38), *0404,8 (p < 10(-43), *0405 (p < 10(-8), *10 (p < 10(-3) and *0101,2 (p < 10(-2), while DRB1*0403 was negatively associated (p = 0.02). The DRB1 genotype relative risks (and 95% CIs) for RA were: *0404,5,8/*0404,5,8 = 36.2 (15-87), *0401/*0404,5,8 = 31.3 (18-55), *401/*0401 = 18.8 (11-35), *0101,2/*0404,5,8 = 6.0 (2-14), *0101,2/*0401 = 6.4 (3-12), *0101,2/*0101,2 = 1.3 (0.3-6), *10/*0404,5,8 = 27.8 (5-148), *10/*0401 = 20.8 (5-89), *10/*0101,2 = 22.3 (5-96), *0404,5,8/DRX = 5.0 (3-8), *0401/DRX = 4.7 (3-7), *0101,2/DRX = 2.3 (1.4-4), *10/DRX = 3.4 (0.8-14). No significant correlation of DRB1 genotypes was found with severity of RA as judged by nodules or articular erosions.

No abstract