[Cryoglobulins in arthritis].

During the years 1984-1986 we saw 22 patients with cryoglobulinemia, 8 of whom had rheumatoid arthritis, 1 psoriasis arthritis, 2 Sjögren syndrome, 1 progressive systemic sclerosis, 5 different arthralgias, 1 soft tissue rheumatism, 2 vasculitis and arthralgias and 2 purpura-arthralgia-nephritis syndrome. The measurement of cryoglobulins is done only in special cases of diagnostic importance. The prognostic outlook in patients with nephritis is bad. A monoclonal cryoglobulinemia is always suspicious for a lymphoproliferative syndrome.