Abstract
When various extraarticular symptoms that originated from systemic angitis appeared in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the patient is diagnosed as malignant RA (MRA). Although the progression of RA to MRA is rare, once the the patient with RA shows the symptoms of MRA, the prognosis is usually poor. We have recently experienced a case of RA who has progressed to MRA within a year after the start of RA. In this report, details of clinical course, EMG and muscle biopsy findings, and results of serially examined immunologic abnormalities of this case were described. It is concluded that precise chronological check of immunological abnormalities, such as serum complement levels and serum immune complex levels are very important to predict and control the progression of RA to MRA.
