Cyclosporin A in the treatment of juvenile chronic arthritis and childhood polymyositis-dermatomyositis. Results of a preliminary study.

In this study we have investigated the efficacy and safety of cyclosporin A (CyA) in a group of pediatric patients with juvenile chronic arthritis (JCA, 9 cases) and polymyositis-dermatomyositis (PM-DM, 3 cases). Of the 9 JCA patients, 7 had the systemic and 2 the polyarticular form of the disease. All of the patients received CyA after the failure of corticosteroids and/or cytotoxic drugs.

[Cardiac involvement in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis].

Four cases with cardiac involvement in patients suffering from systemic outset of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis are reported. The cases were chosen out of 83 juvenile rheumatoid arthritis patients studied from 1975 to 1988. They developed respectively myopericarditis (case 1), myocarditis (case 2), endopericarditis (case 3), myopericarditis (case 4).

Childhood systemic lupus erythematosus: a review of 30 cases.

We review 30 cases of pediatric systemic lupus erythematosus followed over an 8-year period at our institution. The female to male ratio was 3.3:1; the age at diagnosis ranged between 3.

[Psoriatic arthritis and celiac disease in childhood. A case report].

A case of a girl followed up for 18 years is reported. At the age of two, the patient presented psoriasis and coeliac disease confirmed by biopsy and by laboratory data. She followed a coeliac diet and at the age of twelve she manifested a rheumatoid arthritis of the left knee without pain, confirmed by laboratory data (RA test, ANA test).

[The Guillain-Barré syndrome. The clinico-electrophysiological correlations].

The authors refer about clinico-electrophysiological correlations in children with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). The dates confirm the diagnostic and prognostic value of electrodiagnostic studies in GBS, so that the authors suggest an electrodiagnostic protocol. According to the authors, independently of the extent of electrophysiological abnormalities, young age has a favourable influence on the restoration of conduction abnormalities and on the evolution of damage to peripheral neurones.