Rheumatoid arthritis and cancer arthritis. II.

A total of 394 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were followed-up over a 10-year period from 1963 to 1973, particularly with reference to the aetiological circumstances and in particular, cancer. Cancer was found as cancer arthritis in 50 cases (13 percent) at a stage where it was not possible to find focal cancer symptoms. No definite difference was found in the clinical course of the rheumatoid arthritis, no matter the varying aetiology, A series of statistically significant differences in the laboratory values for rheumatoid arthritis and cancer arthritis, respectively, are indicated and discussed. For that matter, the above observations are not original, in spite of what has been claimed, as Uncle Vanja in the play of the same name by Chekhov says: "They say that Turgenev got cancer as a result of his arthritis."