Rheumatoid arthritis: comparison of treatment with monophenylbutazone and phenylbutazone.

A double-blind trial has been carried out to compare the effects of monobutazone and phenylbutazone in ambulant outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis.One patient developed urticaria, vertigo, weakness, tinnitus and blurred vision during monobutazone administration.Side effects occurring in other patients were for the most part trivial.Untoward symptoms were less frequent in patients taking monobutazone than among those on phenylbutazone.The subjects showed neither improvement nor deterioration during administration of ASA, monophenylbutazone or phenylbutazone.Nevertheless, statistical analysis demonstrated differences between the effects of treatment with monobutazone and phenylbutazone which indicated that phenylbutazone is more effective than monobutazone.