[Sulfhydryl maintenance treatment in rheumatoid polyarthritis. A series of 120 cases followed for 10 years and a study of possibilities of changing the drug].

The authors present a series of 120 cases of sero-positive rheumatoid arthritis followed for ten years and treated with D-penicillamine, gold salts and pyrithioxine used either alone or sequentially after stopping one of these treatments because of failure, intolerance or escape. This series can be broken down as follows: 13% of patients are under treatment after ten years, 27% had a favourable result with one of the three treatments for five to ten years, 59% had a poor result (less than 5 years) or no effect. However, it appeared that a failure or an escape from one of these products did not signify a failure with another product and side effects did not necessarily recur with a change of treatment.