FIBROBLASTIC RHEUMATISM - CLINICAL AND HISTOLOGIC EVOLUTION OF CUTANEOUS MANIFESTATIONS

Correlation of the clinical manifestations of a patient with fibroblas tic rheumatism with sequential skin biopsy findings revealed an early inflammatory stage with cutaneous nodules, patchy erythematous skin le sions, polyarthritis, dermal lymphomonocytic infiltrates, and fibrobla stic and myofibroblastic proliferation, followed by a chronic stage wi th sclerodactyly, joint ankylosis, deformities and dense dermal fibros is. Treatment of this rare disorder in its early active stages may pre vent the development of incapacitating joint sequelae.