Team managed outpatient care for early onset chronic inflammatory arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether an outpatient team management program for persons with early chronic inflammatory arthritis would produce improved clinical outcomes and lower costs than traditional, nonteam outpatient rheumatologic care in a clinic setting. METHODS: One hundred eighteen patients with chronic inflammatory arthritis were randomly assigned to a team managed outpatient care program (TEAMCARE) or to traditional, one on one, nonteam managed rheumatologic care (TRADCARE). The TEAMCARE program consisted of a half day educational program, a needs assessment intake interview, and quarterly telephone calls, monthly team meetings, and routine rheumatologic care. TRADCARE patient received unconstrained, routine primary and specialty outpatient care as practised typically by rheumatologists at this large multi-specialty clinic. All patients had numerous physical and laboratory outcome assessments by rheumatologists at office visit. Every 6 months, patients completed several self-report measures of functional status, pain, psychosocial status, and costs. RESULTS: One hundred seven patients completed one year of study participation. No significant differences were found between groups in measures of physical status, physical functioning, psychosocial status, or pain. There were no differences between groups in economic or utilization measures. CONCLUSION: This team managed outpatient program for persons with recent onset chronic inflammatory arthritis afforded no advantage to routine outpatient care, characterized mainly by one on one relationships between patients and primary care doctors and rheumatologists, in our active outpatient clinical environment.

Eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome associated with L-tryptophan use.

The eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome associated with the use of oral preparations of the amino acid L-tryptophan was recognized in late 1989. We describe the clinical and laboratory manifestations, pathological findings and early clinical course of 20 patients with the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. Prominent clinical findings included severe myalgias limiting function, fatigue, rashes, edema and weight gain, weight loss, muscle weakness and shortness of breath. Laboratory findings included eosinophilia (often marked), normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and elevated aldolase with normal or low creatine kinase values. On biopsy fascial inflammation was always seen consisting of lymphocytes, histiocytes and eosinophils in a perivascular distribution. Invasion of the vascular wall by lymphocytes was seen in 20%. Capillary and arteriolar endothelial cell thickening was found in most cases on electron microscopy and endothelial cell necrosis or mural invasion by lymphocytes was seen in 25% of cases. Two patients improved with no therapy. Ten patients responded to therapy with prednisone alone. Three patients have had progressive disease and one of these died. The relationship of this syndrome to previously described disease entities associated with eosinophilia is discussed.

Sickled cells in synovial fluid: clue to unsuspected hemoglobinopathy.

In this report, we have described three patients who had hemarthroses, with sickled red blood cells discovered by analysis of synovial fluid. On the basis of this observation, each patient was evaluated for the presence of abnormal hemoglobins, and each was found to have a hemoglobinopathy that was previously unsuspected. These patients differ from those in other reports in that two of the three had no associated arthritic condition that could readily explain synovitis or a condition that predisposed them to bleeding into a joint. Although the accumulated evidence suggests that heterozygous hemoglobinopathies do not produce arthritic syndromes, these reports again raise that question. We cannot conclude, however, that the hemarthroses were definitively caused by the underlying hematologic abnormality. Important when synovial fluid is mixed with blood, since other medical conditions can be diagnosed if abnormal findings are detected.

Hemophilus influenzae septic arthritis in adults.

Hemophilus influenzae is an important but uncommon cause of adult septic arthritis. We report two cases and review 23 previously published cases. Two-thirds of the patients had systemic diseases, local factors, or both which predisposed them to septic arthritis. The acute disease was monarticular in 48%, polyarticular in 24%, and accompanied by tenosynovitis and/or bursitis in 28% of cases. Extraarticular sites of H. influenzae infection were found in 60% of cases. These sites represented either likely portals of bacterial entry or foci of infection resulting from hematogenous dissemination of H. influenzae. The most characteristic synovial fluid finding was the presence of Gram-negative pleomorphic microorganism. However, misinterpretation of the Gram-stained smear was common and led to an erroneous initial diagnosis in several instances. Prompt sterilization of the infected synovial fluid was the rule once an appropriate antimicrobial agent was administered. A favorable outcome was reported in 88% of cases.