Polymyalgia rheumatica: an arthroscopic study of the shoulder joint.

A careful selection of 19 patients fitting the classical description of polymyalgia rheumatica have been examined by arthroscopy and thoroughly screened and followed up to exclude rheumatoid arthritis and other disease processes. Synovitis of the shoulder joint has been observed through the arthroscope in 17 and synovitis of varying degrees noted histologically, 4 of whom were studied by immunofluorescence. Five patients had radioactive joint scans.