Local and Systemic Complications of Rheumatoid Arthritis

This brief monograph is an excellent review of the extra-articular manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis from the standpoint of diagnosis, therapy and relationship to the overall features of the disease. Most of the material comes from published reports and reviews in individual areas, embellished by Dr. Hollingsworth's personal experience while he was Chief of Rheumatology at the Yale University School of Medicine. The volume is divided into three sections of which the first includes a brief description of the general nature of rheumatoid arthritis, complications of drug therapy, and tests for rheumatoid and antinuclear factors. The second section deals with local complications, including subcutaneous nodules, tenosynovitis, popliteal (Baker's) cysts, cricoarytenoid arthritis and laryngeal symptoms, atlanto-axial subluxation and other cervical complications, hip symptoms, leg ulcers, ankle edema and neuropathy. The largest part of the monograph deals with systemic complications of rheumatoid arthritis. Chapters are devoted to rheumatoid involvement of each of the organ systems of the body, as well as to the various syndromes associated with rheumatoid disease (such as those of Sjogren, Felty, Caplan, the carpal-tunnel, and serum hyperviscosity). Photographs and diagrams complement the text and are of good quality. This book is for the medical student, house officer, roundsman, and practicing physician alike. The harried medical reader of today will appreciate the lucid narrative style, brief and to the point. When the author has said what he wants to say he stops, even if it means a chapter of only a page or two. Chapters are followed by useful, selected references, and the index is well made. An occasional ultraspecialist may pick at one area or another that he thinks has been slighted, but in general the author has been eminently successful in providing a clear view of the diverse, multisystem ramifications of rheumatoid disease. STEPHEN E. MALAWISTA