Felty's syndrome in a child

The occurrence of the triad of leukopenia, splenomegaly and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (Felty's syndrome) during childhood has not been reported previously. We describe an adolescent with onset during childhood of seropositive, nodular, erosive, polyarticular RA in whom both leukopenia and splenomegaly were accompanying features. Neither nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents nor plasmapheresis were therapeutically beneficial, but low dose oral prednisone therapy resulted in both clinical and hematological improvement.