[Rheumatoid arthritis and trauma. 5 cases]

The authors report 5 cases of post-traumatic rheumatoid polyarthritis. After the traumatism had initiated the first stages of ordinary inflammation, chain reactions, perhaps by means of an "immune" field, intervened to transform it into a self-maintained rheumatoid inflammation. In fact, the etiopathogenic problems of post-traumatic rheumatoid polyarthritis have not yet been elucidated and it cannot be said either that the question of legal compensation for it is any nearer solution. The growing importance of traumatisms in everyday life and of compensation for them, and the gravity of the condition and its disabling sequelae require that great caution should be exercised in the search for criteria for attributing the disease to the traumatism: the almost indefinite evolution of the disease with time makes the choice of the consolidation date arbitrary.