Undiagnosed chronic monarthritis. Clinical and evolutionary profile.
The features and clinical course in 38 patients (25 women, 13 men) who had chronic monarthritis of undetermined origin (UCM) were surveyed over a mean followup period of 24.6 months. At the end of the study, the cause was still unknown in 26 patients (65.7%). In 10 patients, symptoms resolved spontaneously. In the remaining 12 patients, a diagnosis became apparent after a mean period of 17.2 months; diagnoses included spondylarthritis (6 patients), rheumatoid arthritis (3 patients), osteoarthritis (1 patient), erosive arthropathy (1 patient), and glomus tumor (1 patient). Patients in whom a diagnosis emerged were more likely to have positive findings on the following studies: rheumatoid factor (2 of 12); HLA-B27 typing (6 of 11); bone scan, positive over the sacroiliac joint or non-index joint(s) (4 of 6); and roentgenograms of the sacroiliac joint (3 of 8). Findings of these same studies were notably negative in the subgroup of patients with UCM that spontaneously resolved.
Department of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.
K L
KL
Blocka
J T
JT
Sibley
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001168:Arthritis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007596:Joints / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged