Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis is a generalized disease which, in addition to joint involvement, is accompanied by changes in many organs and tissues. The occurrence of cardiac lesions in rheumatoid arthritis is well known. Still,<sup>1</sup>in 1897, studying chronic joint disease in children, which was apparently a juvenile type of rheumatoid arthritis, noted an adherent pericardium during post-mortem examination in 3 of 12 cases. There are references<sup>2,3</sup>in the early medical literature to chest complications found in chronic rheumatism. Baggenstoss and Rosenberg<sup>4</sup>found that 16 of 30 patients with rheumatoid arthritis examined at autopsy had rheumatic changes in their hearts. In 6 patients nonrheumatic lesions of minor severity were noted. These included nonspecific pericarditis and chronic obliterative pericardial adhesions. Sokoloff et al.<sup>5</sup>noted fibrous pericardial obliteration to be present in 25% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were examined post mortem. The occurrence of pleural effusion and pericarditis
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