The increase in life expectancy that would result from the elimination of certain diseases and the resulting change in hospital utilization vary, depending on the disease. In some cases, life expectancy would rise and total days spent in hospital would decline, while in others, the gain in life expectancy would be accompanied by an increase in hospital days. For instance, if mental health disor...

Cutaneous mucinosis is a group of conditions involving an accumulation of mucin or glycosaminoglycan in the skin and its annexes. It is described in some connective tissue diseases but never in association with mixed connective tissue disease. This report concerns two cases of cutaneous mucinosis in patients with mixed connective tissue disease in remission; one patient presented the papular fo...

P achymeningitis is a rare illness which can be shown by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to be a thickening of the intracranial dura mater, when associated with an infectious, malignant, or rheumatic systematic disease. ‘‘Idiopathic hypertrophic cranial pachymeningitis’’ is also noticeable, and is based on a process of chronic inflammation whose cause is unclear. Typical symptoms are chronic h...

Twenty patients with mixed connective tissue disease were followed for 5 years. Arthritis occurred in all 20 patients, being the presenting complaint in 11 patients. The joints most frequently involved were the proximal interphalangeal (PIP), metacarpophalangeal (MCP), wrists, metatarsophalangeal (MTP), and knee; the distribution tended to be symmetrical, mimicking early rheumatoid arthritis. J...