[Value of color-coded duplex ultrasound in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica without signs of temporal arteritis].

Background And Objective: Recent studies have described characteristic sonographic signs in patients with manifest temporal arteritis (TA). It was the aim of this study to determine whether sonography can identify TA without clinical signs but biopsy evidence of giant-cell arteritis in patients with rheumatic polymyalgia (RP).

Patients And Methods: 22 patients (14 women, 8 men; average age 67.

[Ultrasound in inflammatory rheumatic joint diseases].

Inflammatory changes of the shoulder joint could be detected at a very early stage, when the clinical and radiological examinations were unremarkable. In 50% of the cases a rupture of the rotator cuff could be demonstrated. Only 10% of the shoulder joints had normal sonographic findings, whereas 50% were normal on clinical or radiological examination.

[Immunsuppressive factors in sera and synovial fluids of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (author's transl)].

Serum inhibitory factors (SIF) have been demonstrated in several infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. Most likely, they are caused by an immune reaction, and their persistence indicates a chronic course. Sera and synovial fluids of 31 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and of 33 patients with arthrosis were therefore studied, in order to determine whether immunosuppressive factors exist only in inflammatory diseases and whether their titers correlate with the activity of the disease.