Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 1978 Dec;37(6):529–535. doi: 10.1136/ard.37.6.529

Radiological study of cervical spine and hand in patients with rheumatoid arthritis of 15 years' duration: an assessment of the effects of corticosteroid treatment.

J J Rasker, J A Cosh
PMCID: PMC1000290  PMID: 749698

Abstract

Radiological abnormalities in the cervical spine were assessed in detail in a group of 62 patients with rheumatoid arthritis of approximately 15 years' duration, of whom 33 had been treated with corticosteroids and 29 had not. The 10 criteria of damage described by Bland (1974), which include subluxation, correlated as a whole with the severity of the disease in general but not with the duration of corticosteroid treatment. Subluxation alone, whether assessed in the cervical spine as a whole or in the atlanto-axial joint alone, was less closely related to disease activity, was on average greater in patients treated with corticosteroids, and tended to increase in relation to the duration of treatment. Corticosteroid treatment thus tends to produce, over the course of years, a degree of subluxation in addition to that caused by the disease itself. Radiological signs of damage to the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints and carpal bones correlated with both the degree of damage and the degree of subluxation in the cervical spine as well as with corticosteroid treatment. Mutilans deformity at the MCP joints was associated with subluxation in the neck and with corticosteroid treatment.

Full text

PDF
529

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BLAND J. H., DAVIS P. H., LONDON M. G., VANBUSKIRK F. W., DUARTE C. G. RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS OF CERVICAL SPINE. Arch Intern Med. 1963 Dec;112:892–898. doi: 10.1001/archinte.1963.03860060116013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Ball J., Sharp J. Rheumatoid arthritis of the cervical spine. Mod Trends Rheumatol. 1971;2:117–138. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Conlon P. W., Isdale I. C., Rose B. S. Rheumatoid arthritis of the cervical spine. An analysis of 333 cases. Ann Rheum Dis. 1966 Mar;25(2):120–126. doi: 10.1136/ard.25.2.120. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Henderson D. R. Vertical atlanto-axial subluxation in rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatol Rehabil. 1975 Feb;14(1):31–38. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/14.1.31. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Jacoby R. K., Jayson M. I., Cosh J. A. Onset, early stages, and prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis: a clinical study of 100 patients with 11-year follow-up. Br Med J. 1973 Apr 14;2(5858):96–100. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5858.96. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. LOURIE H., STEWART W. A. Spontaneous atlantoaxial dislocation. A complication of rheumatoid disease. N Engl J Med. 1961 Oct 5;265:677–681. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196110052651405. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. MARTEL W. The occipito-atlanto-axial joints in rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Am J Roentgenol Radium Ther Nucl Med. 1961 Aug;86:223–240. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mathews J. A. Atlanto-axial subluxation in rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1969 May;28(3):260–266. doi: 10.1136/ard.28.3.260. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Meikle J. A., Wilkinson M. Rheumatoid involvement of the cervical spine. Radiological assessment. Ann Rheum Dis. 1971 Mar;30(2):154–161. doi: 10.1136/ard.30.2.154. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. SERRE H., SIMON L., JANICOT J. Y., LEVY F. LES AFFECTIONS RHUMATISMALES DE LA CHARNI'ERE CERVICO-OCCIPITALE. Rev Rhum Mal Osteoartic. 1963 Aug-Sep;30:518–544. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. SHARP J., PURSER D. W., LAWRENCE J. S. Rheumatoid arthritis of the cervical spine in the adult. Ann Rheum Dis. 1958 Sep;17(3):303–313. doi: 10.1136/ard.17.3.303. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sharp J., Purser D. W. Spontaneous Atlanto-Axial Dislocation in Ankylosing Spondylitis and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1961 Mar;20(1):47–77. doi: 10.1136/ard.20.1.47. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Smith P. H., Benn R. T., Sharp J. Natural history of rheumatoid cervical luxations. Ann Rheum Dis. 1972 Nov;31(6):431–439. doi: 10.1136/ard.31.6.431. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stevens J. C., Cartlidge N. E., Saunders M., Appleby A., Hall M., Shaw D. A. Atlanto-axial subluxation and cervical myelopathy in rheumatoid arthritis. Q J Med. 1971 Jul;40(159):391–408. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES