RHEUMATOID FACTORS OF BLOOD IN PATIENTS W ITH COMPLICATED SPINAL-INJURY

Enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) was used to study the levels of serum rheum atoid factors (RF) of classes IgM and IgG in patients with spinal inju ries and osteochondrosis. The findings show that at the late stages of the disease, the patients with spinal injury show 46 % seropositivene ss for IgG-RF and 40 % for IgM-RF. Patients with fresh central nervous system (CNS) injuries were 12 and 14 % seropositive, respectively. Pa tients with osteochondrosis exhibited 33 % seropositiveness for IgG-RF . Determination of serum RF enables the authors to identify systemic b ody lesions at the late stages of spinal injuries as rheumatic disease . These data support the conclusion that RF determination is a reliabl e serological indicator of the severity of a patient's traumatic disea se.