RESUMO
In a combined clinical, radiological, and laboratory study of 77 patients throughout the leprosy spectrum, 10 patients had an enthesitis which has not been described previously as far as is known and which was not associated with the characteristics of erythema nodosum leprosum reactions. C reactive protein and alpha 1 acid glycoprotein values were significantly lowered only in those patients with leprosy and enthesitis. No radiological abnormalities were found.
Assuntos
Hanseníase/patologia , Doenças Musculares/patologia , Tendinopatia/patologia , Adulto , Proteína C-Reativa/análise , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Humanos , Imunoglobulina M/análise , Hanseníase/complicações , Hanseníase/imunologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Doenças Musculares/etiologia , Orosomucoide/análise , Palpação , Fator Reumatoide/análise , Tendinopatia/etiologiaRESUMO
Arthritis associated with leprosy is underreported. In Egypt 66 patients from a leprosy colony were studied, 20 of whom had arthropathy. This was characterised by an inflammatory symmetrical peripheral polyarthritis. The wrist, metacarpal and proximal interphalangeal joints of the hands, the knees, and the metatarsophalangeal joints of the feet were affected with associated morning stiffness. The arthritis was erosive in 11 out of 20 patients, had no features of the arthritis associated with erythema nodosum leprosum reactions, but symptomatically responded to antileprosy treatment. This arthritis would seem to be a previously unrecognised feature of leprosy.