J Rheumatol
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Comparative Study
Technetium-99m labelled polyclonal human IgG scintigraphy before and 26 weeks after initiation of parenteral gold treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
To determine effectiveness of technetium-99m labelled polyclonal human immunoglobulin G (99mTc-IgG) scintigraphy to monitor variation in arthritis activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ⋯ 99mTc-IgG scintigraphy is able to reflect variations in arthritis activity in patients with RA.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Problem elicitation to assess patient priorities in ankylosing spondylitis and fibromyalgia.
To elicit patient priorities as outcome measures in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and fibromyalgia (FM); to relate these measures to other outcomes; to assess construct validity and sensitivity to change of the problem elicitation technique (PET) questionnaire. ⋯ Obtaining patient priorities was generally feasible. In both groups of patients construct validity of the PET questionnaire was satisfactory. The PET was much more sensitive to change in patients with AS than in patients with FM.
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A 57-year-old woman receiving low dose methotrexate (MTX) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) developed a B lymphoproliferative disease (LPD) that was initially considered as large cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of B cell phenotype. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) cytotoxic latent membrane protein-1 (LMP-1) expression was found in some large cells. ⋯ These EBV-associated LPD in patients with RA receiving MTX or other immunosuppressive agents seem to be similar to those triggered by EBV in transplant patients receiving cyclosporine A. MTX withdrawal and short followup should be considered before chemotherapy since spontaneous regression is possible.
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To establish the reliability with which tenderness could be evaluated in patients with chronic myalgias, using dolorimetry and palpation. ⋯ Both dolorimetry and palpation are sufficiently reliable to discriminate control patients from patients with myofascial pain and FM, but may not discriminate patients with myofascial pain from those with FM. Neither method appears to correlate well with the location of the clinical pain complaint, regardless of diagnosis.
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To compare levels of soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNF-R) and soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL-2R) in sera and synovial fluids (SF) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), reactive arthritis (ReA), and osteoarthritis (OA) in order to investigate the usefulness of soluble cytokine receptors for differentiation diagnosis and their involvement in the pathophysiology of rheumatic diseases. ⋯ In RA, in contrast to ReA and OA, TNF-R and IL-2R were not only elevated in the joint fluid but also in serum. This indicates general activation of the immune system in RA, but not in ReA and OA. Therefore the soluble receptors, especially TNF-R, might become useful diagnostic variables to distinguish RA from ReA and OA.