الفهرس 
Materials and methodsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
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SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
The aim of this work is to assess clinically the Joint
disbility and to measure blood and synovial fluid
parameters from patients with ~heumatojd disease and to
determine which are related to clinical activity and which
are most useful.
40 patien~having rheumatoid arthritis were selected
from the out-ptient clinic at Benha unlvers•\y hospital.They
included 6 males and 34 females with age ranging from 35 to
60 years with a mean age of 45.63=7.57 the selected cases
fulfilled the criteria necessary for diagnosis of
rheumatoid arthr~~.is according to the Revised American
Rheumatism Association criteria (Arnett et al .. 1988). Each
p~tient was investigated to show evidence of disease
activity as defined by the presence of at least three of
the following; Eryth rocyte sedimentation rate of 30 mm. or
higher. 45 minutes or more of morning stiffness. Ritchie
articular index of 10 or more. the presence of 6 or more
paniful Joints and 3 or more swollen joints. All patients
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had persistant synovitis of ’the knee.
All patients were subjected to the tbllowing:-
Full history taking with stress on duration of
morning stiffness in minutes.
_ Clinical examination with stress on the locomotor
system, including the following :-
Joint tenderness according to the method of Rithie
et al., (1968), counting the number of paniful
joints, and the number of swollen joints and
measurement of grip strength of both hands.
Blood analysis including the following
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, Haemoglobin
concentration, C-reactive protein total leucocytic
count and latex fixation titre rheumatoid factor.
Synovial fluid analysis including the folpwing :-
Glucose level, latex fixation titre rheumatoid
factor,
count.
Correlation coefficients was made for each item of
the clincal , blood and synovial fluid.
tota I Ieucocyti c count and ’poIYlllO..!Jlhs
Our findings in this work can be summarized in the
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following :-
Significant correlation
sedimentation rate and the
disease activity.
- Significant correlation between C-reactive protein
and the clinical parameters of disease activity.
Insignificant correlation between haemoglobin
concentration and the clinical parameters of disease
activity.
Insignificant correlation between total leucocytic
count and the clinical parameters of disease activity.
-Insignificant correlation between rheumatoid factor
titre and the clinical parameters of disease activity.
Insignificant correlation between glucose level in
the synovial fluid and the clinical parameters of
disease activity.
- Insignificant correlation between rheumatoid factor
titre in the synovial fluid and the clinical
parameters of disease activity.
- Significant correlation between
count in the synovial fluid
parameters of disease activity.
- Significant correlation between polymorphs count in
between
clinical
erythrocyte
parameters of
total leucocytic
and the clinical
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the synovial fluid and the clinical parameters of
disease activity.
Lastelly. it can be concluded that, four parameters
are most accurately reflect disease activity and correlated
significantly with all parameters of disease activity in
rheumatoid arthritis patients:-
1- Erythrocyte sedimentation rate
2- C-reactive protein
3- Total leucocytic count in the synovial fluid
4- Polymorphs count in the synovial fluid
Our four indices are simple and should assisst those
who wish to assess progress of disease.