RSS Feeds
Arthritis and Collagenous Colitis
- James M. Sowa, MD
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
TO THE EDITOR:
Castanet and colleagues [1] described a patient with collagenous colitis, discoid lupus, and nonerosive seronegative inflammatory polyarthritis. Although the arthritis was symmetric and involved the metacarpals, all other joints (elbows, shoulders, and knees) were large. It is conceivable that this patient had an enteropathic arthritis associated with collagenous colitis, as described by Roubenoff and colleagues [2].
The authors cite Giardiello and associates [3], yet none of their seven patients had arthritis (although three had antinuclear antibodies, and one also had rheumatoid factor). Similarly, none of the six patients of Kingham and colleagues [4] had a rheumatic disease. Scleroderma was not discussed.
Two reports of rheumatoid disease associated with collagenous colitis are of interest. The patient of Farah and coworkers [5] had her first diarrhea in the setting of gold toxicity and, although it “settled after gold withdrawal,” mild recurrences continued for almost a year. After 2 years without symptoms, collagenous colitis recurred [5]. Lavabre and colleagues [6] recently described a woman with rheumatoid disease who was receiving parenteral gold, corticosteroids, and salicylates and who developed collagenous colitis.
Colitis is a known, albeit rare, toxicity of parenteral gold. Did the patients in the older reports have collagenous colitis, or is gold a toxin that might rarely cause collagenous colitis? Speculation on the cause of collagenous colitis has included unknown toxins [3-5].
James M. Sowa, MD
The Editors welcome submissions for possible publication in the Letters section. Authors of letters should:
•Include no more than 300 words of text, three authors, and five references
•Type with double-spacing
•Send three copies of the letter, an authors' form signed by all authors, and a cover letter describing any conflicts of interest related to the contents of the letter.
Letters commenting on an Annals article will be considered if they are received within 6 weeks of the time the article was published. Only some of the letters received can be published. Published letters are edited and may be shortened; tables and figures are included only selectively. Authors will be notified that the letter has been received. If the letter is selected for publication, the author will be notified about 3 weeks before the publication date. Unpublished letters cannot be returned.
Annals welcomes electronically submitted letters.
- Copyright ©2004 by the American College of Physicians
