Abstract
The authors propose a practical method to classify the status of all the joints of a rheumatoid patient. The parameters used were range of motion of the knee joints, swelling of the knee and/or the wrist joints, instability of the cervical spine, and carpal height ratio. There were three types: unstable, intermediate and stiff types. In 80 cases in which knee joint total replacement had been undertaken the ratio of the three types were 20, 67 and 13%, respectively. The patients were followed for 2 years and 4 months on average. Seven of 8 bedridden patients were of unstable type. In this respect, the other 9 patients of this type will likely become bedridden eventually.
The authors think that this clinical classification in the early phase of the disease would be helpful to determine the prognosis of the patient and to serve as a guide to indicate surgical procedures during the course.
