[Bronchopulmonary manifestations of Horton's disease. Apropos of a case]. / Manifestations broncho-pulmonaires de la maladie de Horton. A propos d'une observation.

A 78 years old woman developed a pulmonary recurrence four years after the diagnosis of temporal arteritis. The lung biopsy showed the same giant-cells granulomatous lesions with central vessels as the initial biopsy. The recurrence in giant cells-arteritis has already been published but the pulmonary involvement had never been illustrated before by histological data. The difficulties of diagnosis in case of granulomatous angiitis on lung samples is emphasized.

[D-penicillamine induced myasthenic syndromes in rheumatoid arthritis. Two cases (author's transl)]. / Syndromes myasthéniques induits par la D-pénicillamine au cours de la polyarthrite rhumatoïde. Deux observations.

The authors report on 2 personal cases, and review 48 published cases of myasthenia induced by D-penicillamine (D-P) treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The clinical symptoms were not different from those of myasthenia gravis, and no correlation could be found between the total cumulative dose of D-P and the onset on the myasthenic syndrome. In 71% of the patients the neurological deficiency regressed after D-P was withdrawn, but in some cases anticholinesterase treatment had to be continued and thymectomy was contemplated. The most remarkable biological abnormalities were anti-striational antibodies (found in 58% of the cases) and anti-acetylcholine receptors antibodies (found in 4 out of 7 patients tested). These findings are in favour of a genuine myasthenia and against a myasthenic syndrome due to neuro-muscular blockade. While the mechanisms underlying the emergence of these antibodies remains unknown, their presence throws new light on immunological disorders in rheumatoid arthritis.