[The clinico-morphological assessment of the efficacy of local radiation therapy in rheumatoid arthritis]. / Kliniko-morfologicheskaia otsenka éffektivnosti lokal'noi luchevoi terapii pri revmatoidnom artrite.

Ten patients with rheumatoid arthritis underwent arthroscopy of knee joints and spot biopsy of the synovial membrane before and 6-12 months after intraarticular injection of radioactive gold-198. In 8 joints there was a decrease of inflammatory infiltration of the synovial membrane. Still, the clinical signs of arthritis persisted in 5 of them. In 3 cases, the clinical and morphological manifestations of arthritis remained practically unchanged. The decrease of inflammatory infiltration of the synovial membrane may favour a reduction of destructive potential of chronic synovitis even if the exudative component of inflammation is preserved. The clinicomorphological estimation of the results of local radiotherapy is more informative than the purely clinical one, for it allows the positive dynamics to be recorded even in the absence of evident clinical improvement.

[Secondary amyloidosis in elderly patients with rheumatoid arthritis]. / Vtorichnyi amiloidoz u bol'nykh revmatoidnym artritom pozhilogo vozrasta.

Examination of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients (52 males and 35 females) revealed secondary amyloidosis (SA) in 44.2% and 48.6% of patients, respectively. The disease was confirmed by amyloid deposits in biopsy specimens of gingival mucosa. As far as age-specific SA incidence is concerned, SA was more prevalent in elderly age-groups: 29.7% and 80% in males under and over 50, respectively; 15.4% and 68.2% in relevant women. The disease history in old patients was not long: 4.6 +/- 1.0 yr and 3.3 +/- 0.7 yr for males and females, respectively. Not a single case of amyloid deposit occurred in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus at the age over 60. The contribution of sex hormones and other factors to SA onset in RA is under discussion. An old age of RA patients and associated infection, especially urogenic, can predispose to SA development.

[Evaluation of the effect of dimethyl sulfoxide on experimental amyloidosis]. / Otsenka vliianiia dimetilsul'foksida na éksperimental'nyi amiloidoz.

It was shown on the model of casein amyloidosis reproduced in 40 female mice of line Balb/C that dimethylsulfoxide prescribed perorally with drinking water ad libitum not only prevented the development but also caused regression of the existing experimental amyloidosis.

[Cryoglobulinemia in Sjögren's syndrome]. / Krioglobulinemiia pri bolezni Shegrena.

As many as 130 patients with Sjögren's disease (SD) were examined for blood cryoglobulins during 1977-1982. Cryoglobulinemia was discovered in 25 (19.2%) patients with SD. The clinical manifestations such as severe xerostomia, appreciable increase of the parotid salivary glands, hepatosplenomegaly, purpura, polyneuropathy, lesions of the lungs and kidneys were mostly detectable in SD patients with cryoglobulinemia. Ten cryoprecipitates of SD patients with cryoglobulinemia showed the monoclonal immunoglobulins IgMk-9 and IgA-1. All the patients had high titers of antinuclear antibodies and 90% manifested antinuclear Ro/La antibodies. Over the 5-year period. SD patients with cryoglobulinemia manifested the growth of hepatosplenomegaly, ulcerous-necrotic vasculitis, polyneuropathy, polyneuritis, cerebral vasculitis, lesions of the lungs and kidneys. The development of the grave systemic manifestations of the disease was attended by a decrease of immunological activity and the rise of inflammatory activity. The 5-year survival of SD patients with cryoglobulinemia was 64% against 98% in SD patients without cryoglobulinemia (p less than 0.001).