The characteristics of the clinical course and the frequency and difficulties in the diagnosis of visceral lesions in rheumatoid arthritis

: A clinical and morphological analysis was done in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), that showed high incidence (61.8%) of lesions of the internals in RA. Affliction of the heart was present in 48 percent of cases, that of the lungs and pleura in 47.6 percent, renal lesions were recordable in 23 percent, serious breakdown of the liver in 16 percent, and of the alimentary canal in 22 percent of cases, with the associated visceral lesions present in a major part of the population. Considering high incidence of visceral lesions in RA and their impact on the gravity of the course of the disease and, not infrequently, on the prognosis we consider it necessary for the practitioners to bend their energies to thorough clinical examination of the RA patients when he or she first applied for medical advice. Other measures to be instituted include deliberate dynamic observation, timely prescription of adequate complex therapy and inauguration of preventive measures during the period of remission of the disease.