QUANTITATION OF THE MANIFESTATIONS OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 4. AREA OF JOINT SURFALES AS AN INDEX TO TOTAL JOINT INFLAMMATION AND DEFORMITY

Journal/Book: Reprinted from The American Journal of the Medical Sciences Vol. 232 No. 2 August 1956. 1956;

Abstract: BY JOHN LANSBURY M.D. PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL MEDICINE AND DONALD D. HAUT A.B. From the Departments of Medicine and Anatomy Temple University School of Medicine Philadelphia Pennsylvania Summary. The authors present anatomical measurements of the area of bone ends which together form the peripheral joints. The total peripheral joint surface so obtained is almost exactly one square meter. Using these areas as an index of relative joint size it is possible by referring to Table 2 rapidly to calculate the percentage of total possible joint involvement in a given case of rheumatoid arthritis. This is referred to as the "spread" of the disease. By referring to Table 4 in which degrees of total possible inflammation and deformity are expressed in four grades it is also possible to calculate in a given case of rheumatoid arthritis the percentage of joint inflammation and joint deformity. The main clinical application of these measurements of joint size will be in determining the "spread" of the disease. The activity of the disease is more quickly and easily determined by a summation of the systemic manifestations of rheumatoid activity (to be presented in a subsequent paper) . The value of summations of deformity in relation to degrees of functional impairment is being explored. ___MH

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