[Vasomotor polyarthralgia]

The authors report 11 observations of middle-age women seeking medical treatment for polyarthralgia most often involving the hands and often several articulations of legs and arms, with pain sometimes increasing during the night and frequently accompanied by a feeling of stiffness in the morning. The clinical, biological, and radiological studies did not disclose any organic disease except for vasomotor disorders of the Raynaud's disease type, acrocyanosis, acrorigor and clubbed fingers. Therapy with vasodilator isoxsuprine caused the disappearance or the diminution of the pain in 10 out of 11 cases. The authors suggest that these polyarthralgia are the consequence of arterioloconstriction which is a disturbance common to all the vasomotor disorders observed in their 11 patients.