During the past 7 years we have had the opportunity of studying 27 cases of a condition characterized by multiple calcification of hyaline and fibrous cartilage both of the joints and of the intervertebral disks.* We present in this paper a detailed nosographical analysis of this clinical entity which we have named articular chondrocalcinosis (AC). Up to 1955, when we saw our first cases, we found a few reports in the medical literature describing altogether fifteen cases with calcification of the articular cartilage. Since 1955 reports on a further seventeen cases have been published.+ All the 32 cases so far reported are summarized in Table I (opposite). Personal Observations Our series of 27 patients with AC comprises eleven men and sixteen women aged 26 to 77 years. Clinical Analysis Articular chondrocalcinosis is manifested by episodic inflammatory involvement, acute or subacute, of one or more joints. The swelling of a joint, heralded by pain on movement, develops quickly and reaches its peak on the third or fourth day. If the knee joint is involved an exudate is found from the first day of the swelling. The duration of this arthritic involvement varies from 7 to 50 days (average 15). Often several joints are involved, either simultaneously, or at short intervals;
Our first observations had shown that articular chondrocalcinosis (AC) occurred in several members of the same family. As the original material was 157 copyright.
The associations of several disease entities in rheumatology with the human major histocompatibility system-the HL-A system-are well knDwn; as a review see for example Ryder et a1 (1 ). Although the regulatory functions of this system, the most complex and polymorphic known genetic system of mar., are concerned particularly with immune reactivity, vitrious other important traits (for example several enz:imes) also seem to be involved. These have led the present authors to investigate the relationship between the I-IL-A system and a metabolic disorder-chondrocalcinoris (2,3).
MATERIALS AND METHODSTwo groups of patients were inbestigated. Twelve patients from 7 families from a Southwest S ovak locality with endemic occurrence of familial form of chondrocalcinosis and 13 unrelated individuals suffering from chondrocalcinosis from all over Slovakia; 19 healthy family members and 314 healthy unretated persons respectively 'were the control groups.Nine antigens of the first locus and IS antigens of the second locus of the HL-A system were determined with mono-
The aim of the study was to find the most reliable and precise incidence of rheumatic fever attacks in the general population. All new cases of rheumatic fever were recorded in an area of 100, 000 population. The frequency of first attacks and recurrences decreased from 53 per 100, 000 inhabitants to 15 in 1968. Less pronounced was the fall in the incidence of first attacks. The prevalence of rheumatic heart diseases in the studied group of patients was relatively low. Epidemiological studies are one of the most important components of the surveillance of rheumatic fever. Further important tasks are early diagnosis and hospitalization, introduction of adequate therapy and (effective) prophylactic measures, with periodic checkups.
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