PALINDROMIC RHEUMATISM

Abstract

We wish to describe an unusual, oft recurring disease of joints and adjacent tissues, 34 cases of which have been studied in the arthritis service of the Mayo Clinic since 1928. Its outstanding features are multiple afebrile attacks of acute arthritis and periarthritis, and sometimes also of para-arthritis, with pain, swelling, redness and disability generally of only one, but sometimes of more than one, small or large joint, in an adult of either sex. The attacks appear suddenly and develop rapidly. They generally last only a few hours or days and then disappear completely, but they recur repeatedly at short or long, irregularly spaced intervals. Despite the frequent recurrences and the transitory presence (in some cases at least) of an acute or subacute inflammatory polymorphonuclear exudate in the articular tissues and cavity, little or no constitutional reaction or abnormality is revealed by laboratory tests, and no significant functional, pathologic or