Muscle, nerve, and synovial changes in lupus erythematosus.

Method All material used was autopsy material. Lupus erythematosus was in all cases the primary cause of death. Muscle was available in fifteen cases, peripheral nerves in fifteen, and synovia in five. The tissue was embedded in paraffin blocks and serially sectioned. A minimum of 300 serial sections were cut from each block, and every tenth section was mounted and stained for study. As controls, muscles and nerves were obtained from thirty other autopsies and prepared in a manner identical to the above. In addition, material from ten cases of rheumatoid arthritis was obtained and similarly studied. These latter findings are being more fully reported elsewhere. Findings