Clinical rheumatology
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Clinical rheumatology · Dec 1993
Comparative StudyPain and fatigue in patients with rheumatic disorders.
The purpose of the study was to investigate whether fibromyalgia patients (n = 50) differed from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (n = 22) and ankylosing sponylitis (n = 31) with respect to pain experience, pain coping and fatigue. A high general pain intensity level was recorded by the McGill Pain Questionnaire (p < 0.01) and the visual analogue scale (p < 0.01) in the fibromyalgia group compared to the other groups. The pain was of continuous duration in the fibromyalgia patients while the rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis patients experienced intermittent pain. ⋯ A high frequency of reported gastrointestinal problems (p < 0.01) and high intensity of fatigue (p < 0.01) were seen in the fibromyalgia group compared to the other groups. In the fibromyalgia group there was no correlation between the sleep problems and fatigue intensity. Thus, the fibromyalgia patients differed from the other groups in reporting frequently shoulder and upper arm pain, continuous pain, higher levels of fatigue and pain intensities as well as high frequency of gastrointestinal problems.
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Clinical rheumatology · Sep 1993
Case ReportsIsolated sternoclavicular joint arthritis in heroin addicts and/or HIV positive patients: three cases.
The authors describe three patients in whom septic arthritis of the sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) occurred, drug addiction and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection representing the predisposing conditions. Infectious arthritis is well known in intravenous drug users, but it is rare in HIV positive patients, who are prone to bacterial infections from usual or unusual microorganisms. In one case, staphylococcus aureus methicillin sensitive was responsible for septic arthritis. In another case, SCJ infection was associated with pneumonitis.
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Clinical rheumatology · Dec 1992
Case ReportsBilateral pneumothorax and mediastinal emphysema in systemic lupus erythematosus.
The association of pneumothorax and mediastinal emphysema in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has not been described extensively in the literature. We describe a 36 year-old man with SLE, complicated by bilateral pneumothorax, mediastinal emphysema and pneumoperitoneum. Despite the treatment received, he died of respiratory failure.
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Clinical rheumatology · Mar 1991
Case ReportsSpontaneous regression of intervertebral disc calcifications in a child.
This article presents the case of a boy who complained of cervical and thoracic spine pain for the first time at the age of nine. Plain films of cervical and thoracic spine showed calcifications of intervertebral disc C4-C5, C5-C6, C6-C7 and D3-D4. ⋯ This spontaneous regression of intervertebral disc calcifications in childhood has also been described in other cases reported in the medical literature. Except for the rare cases when disc calcifications are associated with disc herniation, the discovery of disc calcifications on a plain X-ray of a child corresponds to a benign abnormality.
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Clinical rheumatology · Mar 1990
Bacterial arthritis: are fever, rigors, leucocytosis and blood cultures of diagnostic value?
Clinical suspicion, positive gram stains and cultures of the synovial fluid are the fundamental criteria for the diagnosis of bacterial arthritis. Bacterial arthritis may, however, show an oligosymptomatic clinical course and thus lead to a delay in diagnosis. ⋯ Positive cultures of the synovial fluid (71.4%) were far more frequent than positive blood cultures (23.5%). We conclude, that the absence of fever, rigors, blood leucocytosis and positive blood cultures does not rule out the possibility of bacterial arthritis.