Extra-articular complications of rheumatoid arthritis

a review of recent literature

Chen, Shih-Yang
Kamatani, Naoyuki
Kashiwazaki, Sadao

Institute of Rheumatology, Tokyo Women’s Medical College, KS Building, 9-12, Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162, Japan

Correspondence to: Shih-Yang Chen, Institute of Rheumatology, Tokyo Women’s Medical College, KS Bldg, 9-12, Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162, Japan. Tel: 03-5269-1725. Fax: 03-5269-1726

Received March 10, 1997

Accepted March 13, 1997

This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)

Modern Rheumatology 7(3):p 153-163, September 01, 1997. | DOI: 10.3109/BF03041237

To provide and overview of the recent advances and controversies concerning the extra-articular complications of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we have reviewed the English and Japanese literature with emphasis on articles published within the past 5 years. Disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) can control synovial inflammation but they may also affect various organs such as liver, lung, kidney and bone marrow. Thus, drug-induced side effects should be included in the differential diagnosis of extra-articular manifestations of RA. Other extra-articular manifestations are due to rheumatoid activity per se and seem to represent a group of diseases distinct from synovitis. High-dose steroids and immunosuppresive agents can generally induce remissions in patients with these manifestations but they do not decrease mortality. The association of HLA-DRB1 alleles with the severity of extra-articular manifestations is still debated.