The Classic: On Juvenile Arthritis Deformans

Only Matsuoka reported about an 18 year old Japanese girl who after eight years of age gradually had almost all the major joints of her body affected. The radiographs showed marked deformity of the joints, particularly in the hip and shoulder. The stiffening of the joints was based on these shape changes, not on the fusion of the articulating bones. Swelling of the periarticular connective tissues and joint effusions were not observed. Everything indicates that the label that Matsuoka applied one case, “arthritis deformans juvenilis” is indeed correct and that it was not a primary chronic rheumatism. We should not eliminate such Matsuoka’s case as ‘not pure’, as did Bibergeil, but we must consider it as a rare exception and accept the rule that in osteoarthritis deformans epiphysis of the hip joint, the other joints of the body are not affected at the same time.

Regarding the second case of Schmidt, I can only agree to Bibergeil (Journal for Orthopedic Surgery Volume 25, pp. 199). In Maydl's case 2 I cannot consider the trauma – the patient slipped on a piece of coal and two days later developed pain – as the probable cause. What miners in a coal mine would not ever slip on a piece of coal?

I use the name of coxa vara in a traditional way to refer to all cases in which the femoral neck angle is reduced. As is well known, Sprengel and Kempf, recently reserved the term coxa vara for the cases of traumatic epiphyseal slipping and called all other cases in which a reduction of the femoral neck angle is observed a coxae adducta.

The age refers to that at the time of the last examination.