The authors describe 5 patients with rheumatoid arthritis; in 3 patients rupture of the synovial membrane and in 2 patients a calf cyst caused symptoms resembling a deep vein thrombosis. Contrast arthrography is of great help in differential diagnosis in conjunction with thorough anamnesis and clinical examination. The joint effusion plays a dominating role in the disease process, and treatment of the effusion is of the greatest importance for both prophylaxis and therapy of membrane rupture and calf cysts.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Varicosities as a result of acquired non-traumatic arteriovenous fistulas].

82 patients with telangiectasias of the lower extremities near the knee were examined. At the level of these telangiectasias, it was possible to hear, with the Doppler, an arterial pulse and the histological examination showed that the telangiectasias were secondary to an arterio-venous fistula. Since this shunt is not an important one, we feel that this is a micro-fistula. In most cases, telangiectasias appear at puberty or during delivery in young women. The clinical picture is not univocal and its manifestations are more less obvious. Such an arterio-venous disease is neither congenital nor traumatic; we believe it has a special origin, corresponding to an abnormal functioning of normal cutaneous arterio-venous shunts.

Adolescent↗