Monitoring serum gold values to improve chrysotherapy in rheumatoid arthritis.

Acute renal failure due to gold.

A patient with rheumatoid arthritis is described who developed acute renal failure whilst receiving gold. This occurred despite the normal precautions of patient monitoring before each dose was given. The clinical picture suggests this was a hypersensitivity reaction to chrysotherapy.

Maintenance chrysotherapy in rheumatoid arthritis: a comparison of 2 dose schedules.

Maintenance treatment with chrysotherapy was given to 44 rheumatoid patients after a total of 1.0 g weekly injections of sodium aurothiomalate. 21 patients continued with 50 mg injections every 2 weeks, and 23 patients received the same dose at 4-week intervals. Their progress was followed over 1 year, after which time their clinical improvements were equally well sustained. Toxicity was greate...

Estimation of gold in urine by atomic absorption spectroscopy.

The gold toxicity occasionally encountered during the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis by chrysotherapy may be conveniently treated with chelating agents to facilitate the urinary excretion of gold. It is of interest to monitor this urinary gold excretion, atomic absorption spectroscopy being a convenient technique. Although serum gold concentrations may be estimated after simple dilution (1),...

Patterns of gold levels in urine, serum, and saliva in patients with rheumatoid arthritis undergoing chrysotherapy.

Twenty patients undergoing treatment with aurothiomalate for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were studied for the presence of gold in all urine specimens passed over four days and for gold in the serum of blood drawn by venous section at 10.00, 16.00, and 22.00 hours on a single day of the study. Specimens of saliva collected at the same times as the blood specimens were also analysed for (total) gol...

The Effect of Chrysotherapy on the Sedimentation Rate in Rheumatoid Arthritis.