Polyarticular pigmented villonodular synovitis associated with multiple congenital anomalies. A case of Noonan-like/multiple giant cell lesion syndrome.

A case of polyarticular pigmented villonodular synovitis associated with many congenital phenotypic peculiarities (such as shortness, blue sclerae, flattened nose, low-set ears, hypertelorism, curly hair and pulmonary stenosis) is described. The presence of many of the typical signs of the Noonan syndrome and the histological finding of giant cells on the synovial biopsy led to the diagnosis of Noonan-like/multiple giant cell lesion syndrome.

Atypical renal onset and involvement in primary antiphospholipid syndrome in a child.

A case of primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) with renal involvement in a 10-year-old child is reported. The peculiarity of the case resided not only in the apparent "primary" occurrence of APS in the pediatric age, but also in the involvement of the kidney. The renal picture in the case described consisted of a focal proliferative glomerulonephritis, without any sign of glomerular thrombosis. We conclude that this should lead to a consideration of primary APS in the differential diagnosis of nephropathies, also in childhood.

Use of calcitonin in 20 patients suffering from postmenopausal osteoporosis. A proposal for a therapeutical scheme.

The treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis has been thoroughly studied in recent years, because of the large diffusion of this condition. The therapeutic use of synthetic calcitonin from salmon, associated with oral calcium, has been successfully performed in 18 women out of 20, aged 55-65 years old, all suffering from postmenopausal osteoporosis without bone fractures. The dose used (100 MRC), the type of administration, and the duration of treatment (1 injection i.m. daily, for 30 days, and 1 every other day, for the next 60 days), can be taken as a useful therapeutical scheme, also by the general practitioner.

[Microprolactinoma and rheumatoid arthritis. A case of rheumatoid-like polyarthritis]. / Microprolattinoma e malattie reumatiche. Descrizione di un caso con poliartrite simil-reumatoide.

A case of the rheumatoid-like polyarthritis-associated microprolactinoma is described. Its main clinical features are underlined, and its possible pathogenic mechanisms are reported.

[The articular sequelae of rheumatic fever: Jaccoud's dislocation arthritis. A case report]. / Sequele articolari della febbre reumatica: il reumatismo dislocante di Jaccoud. Descrizione di un caso.

A case of rheumatic fever with severe heart involvement, in which articular rheumatoid-like features involving both hands appeared many years after clinical onset, is described. After reviewing the articular sequelae of rheumatic fever and describing the clinical features of each form, the authors point out the main differences between rheumatic fever and rheumatoid arthritis, and diagnose Jaccoud's arthritis.

Intestinal histological and ultrastructural inflammatory changes in spondyloarthropathy and rheumatoid arthritis.

To determine the prevalence of morphologic bowel lesions in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and to better define the interactions between intestinal and articular pathology, 177 patients [39 with reactive arthritis (ReA), 40 with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), 23 with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), 21 with undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy (USpA) and 54 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA)] underwent ileocolonoscopy followed by multiple biopsies of the large bowel and the ileum and ileocecal valve. Biopsies were then examined with light and electron microscopy. During the endoscopic examination various degrees of gut inflammation were observed in 13% of ReA, 5% of PsA, 26% of AS, 14% of USpA and 11% of RA patients. At the histological examination those percentages were respectively 51%, 45%, 48%, 38%, and 15%, and at the electron microscopic examination 76%, 53%, 90%, 60%, and 50%. Our results show that an involvement of the gut is a factor in a large percentage of patients with spondyloarthropathy and, to a lesser extent, with RA. The involvement of the intestine in RA manifests itself mainly in ultrastructural lesions, thus this involvement is not so obvious as in the spondyloarthropathies; however, it could nonetheless play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of this disease.