Complete reversal of rheumatoid nodulosis.

Abstract

A woman first seen in 1978 had a history of seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of 12 years' duration with attacks of palindromic rheumatism for 3 years. She was treated with D-penicillamine, pyridoxine and hydroxychloroquine and serial measurements of her grip strength and proximal interphalangeal joint circumference were taken. By 1987 all her nodules had resorbed completely. Hydroxychloroquine effects probably helped her improvement. Although spontaneous resorption of a rheumatoid nodule is not a rare event, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first instance of complete resolution of all nodules in a patient with RA with the nodulosis variant.