Mortality and prognosis related to the amyloidosis of Still's disease.

Amyloidosis in adult rheumatoid arthritis is well documented (Table I). Rosenberg, Baggenstoss, and Hench (1944) reported an incidence of 6-6 per cent. in a study of thirty post mortem cases and Unger, Zuckerbrod, Beck, and Steele (1948a) recorded a similar incidence (6 -9 per cent. in 58 cases), but Teilum and Lindahl (1954) found it in 60-7 per cent. of 28 post mortem cases. Missen and Taylor (1956), reporting 47 cases from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School of London, and reviewing other large series in the literature, found a total of 385 cases and suggested 14-7 per cent. as a conservative estimate of the incidence of amyloidosis post mortem in adult rheumatoid arthritis. Fearnley and Lackner (1955) reported an incidence of 3 8 per cent. in 181 cases, using a modified Congo red test and liver biopsy for diagnosis, whereas Arapakis and Tribe (1963) found an incidence of 5-2 per cent. in 115 cases, using rectal biopsy for diagnosis.