The radiographic findings and clinical outcome of 54 patients having a myelogram at the request of the Department of Rheumatology over a period of five years are described. Fortynine of the patients had either clinical features of an intervertebral disc protrusion or chronic back pain of obscure aetiology. Abnormalities which could have accounted for the symptoms and signs were found in 28 of these. Although useful information was obtained in regard to therapy the investigation did not lead to surgical treatment in any of the patients without clinical evidence of lumbar root compression. No unexpected malignancies were found. Morbidity was common, but usually mild.

Back Pain↗

PubMed1983

Steroid responsiveness in connective tissue diseases.

Thirty-four patients with connective tissue disease used dexamethasone drops 0.1% in one eye for 6 weeks. There was a higher incidence of positive steroid response than would be expected in a normal population. Most of the male patients were responders. Care should be exercised when prescribing local steroids for these patients. Males should be offered regular screening for glaucoma.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

Psoriatic spondylitis in a patient with classical rheumatoid arthritis.

A patient exhibiting typical features of classical rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic spondylitis is described. The patient, a woman, presented at the age of 29 with an inflammatory arthritis. Twenty years later, she developed psoriasis, and after a further 3 years, she was first noted to have rheumatoid nodules and to be strongly seropositive. Now at the age of 60, she has a rigid spine with radiographic changes of spondylitis. Neither rheumatoid arthritis, nor psoriatic spondylitis can account for all the features of her disease and there is evidence to suggest that both conditions combined to damage her peripheral joints.

Adult↗

PubMed1983

The frequency of leg ulceration in rheumatoid arthritis: a survey.

Nine percent of 215 adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis attending our clinic gave a history of leg ulcers when surveyed by a self administered questionnaire. This was over twice the frequency found in a matched control group with degenerative arthritis attending the same clinic and was a significant increase.

Adult↗

PubMed1982

Disseminated malignant phaeochromocytoma: localisation with iodine-131-labelled meta-iodobenzylguanidine.

Meta-iodobenzylguanidine, a guanethidine analogue, is a newly synthesised substance capable of imaging the adrenal medulla. In a woman in whom phaeochromocytoma has been diagnosed iodine-131-labelled metaiodobenzylguanidine was given intravenously; gamma-camera images showed bilateral adrenal tumours and uptake corresponding to bone and liver metastases. 131I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine is effective in localising phaeochromocytomas, and the technique is safe, specific, and non-invasive.

3-Iodobenzylguanidine↗