[Ankylosing panarthritis]

The authors report 4 cases of "Sheathing Panarthritis" (S.P.): two female patients with a positive rheumatoid serology, presented a complete ankylosis of the articular system, including the temporo-mandibular joint and the spine; two male patients presented a complete articular ankylosis of the lower extremities and a more or less total spine ankylosis, by only a slight involvement of the upper extremities. The study of the HLA system, carried out in ten cases--3 in this series--showed the presence of B27 in six cases, and the presence of A2 in five cases out of eight. A single study of locus DR revealed the presence of DR 1. On the nosological point of view, this radio-clinical picture, individualized by Forestier, was successively considered as an autonomous affection, a rheumatoid polyarthritis (P.R.), an ankylosing spondylarthritis (AS). The author's opinion is dual since, from the analysis of the cases, they do not feel that it is possible to classify all cases either with P.R. or with A.S. After studying the various radio-clinical aspects of P.R., they believe that, in patients with S.P., it exists an ankylosing "factor X" which exacerbates the ability of P.R. and A.S. to manufacture sclerosis, transforming these diseases into S.P.