The aetiology of the diffuse systemic collagen diseases, embracing rheumatoid arthritis, sclero-derma, dermato-myositis, polyarteritis nodosa, and disseminated lupus erythematosus still remains obscure. The need persists for a wider concept of their clinical picture, with less emphasis on one particular system. Ellman (1947), in respect of rheumatoid arthritis, suggested " rheu-matoid disease" ...

altered immunity, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and may be due to an effect on regulatory 1' lymphocyte function.7 Evidence in support of T cell mediation as a second possible mechanism for the induction of morphoea by penicillamine is illustrated by the cases of two patients who developed-morphoea following bone marrow transplants8 after initial development of acute and chronic skin changes of...

OBJECTIVES The diagnostic diversity of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) can easily be obscured by the widespread use of corticosteroids (CSs) early in the disease course. This study observed the course of PMR without CSs and determined whether alternative medication could be useful. METHODS Seventy patients with new-onset PMR comprised phase 1. Eight were removed with specific diagnoses (four wit...

inflammatory process improves, FDG uptake should be diminished, at least in the affected vessels. This was confirmed in the two patients for whom we have a follow-up F18-FDG-PET. Nevertheless, this pathophysiological basis can cause some false-positive results, as FDG uptake can occur in atherosclerotic lesions with an accumulation of inflammatory cells. Usually these images are less clearly po...

Introduction Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a granulomatous large vessel vasculitis that involves the aorta, its major branches and pulmonary arteries. Diagnosis of TA during childhood remains challenging due to the non-specific symptoms. It primarily affects East Asian women in their second or third decade of life but is well known to affect all ethnicities across the world. Given its systemic nat...

OBJECTIVE To examine the influence of solar cycle and geomagnetic effects on the incidence of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS We used data from patients with GCA (1950-2004) and RA (1955-2007) obtained from population-based cohorts. Yearly trends in age-adjusted and sex-adjusted incidence were correlated with the F10.7 index (solar radiation at 10.7 cm wavele...

BACKGROUND Increasing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been reported in remitting symmetrical seronegative synovitis with pitting edema (RS3PE) syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and giant cell arteritis (GCA). The aim of this study was to compare VEGF levels in patients over 60 years of age who have RS3PE, RA, PMR or GCA so as to determine whether el...

Takayasu's arteritis and inflammatory bowel disease are rarely found together, although the number of cases reported in the literature is increasing. Takayasu's arteritis has been studied in 31 patients from the Arab world but in none of them was it associated with Crohn's disease. We report the case of a Saudi woman previously diagnosed with Crohn's disease who subsequently developed Takayasu'...