ANNUAL REVIEW OF RHEUMATIC DISEASES

Abstract

A CONSIDERATION of advances in rheumatology, at this time, is subject to several restrictions. The results of investigative therapy with new agents can be stated only in tentative form. The fluid developments, like a rapid current, are more difficult to penetrate for a distinction between substance and shadow. But even a critical evaluation of contemporary research in this field remains a stifling exercise, unless one can project it onto the fundamental purpose of medicine, the prevention or cure of disease. Despite the hazard of premature interpretation, therefore, this report includes the demonstration of some clinical guideposts, however soon they may be reset. More disturbingly, the confines and divisions of rheumatism today are not nearly so certain as they appeared to be when attention was concentrated on the articular manifestations of the arthritides. Thus, one finds less justification than ever for isolating rheumatology as a medical specialty. Rather, a report on