Serum rheumatoid factors in spinal cord injury patients.

Abstract

The rheumatoid factor (RF) levels of IgM-RF and IgG-RF types in sera from patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI) and osteochondrosis were investigated by ELISA. According to the findings in the late stages of the disease, SCI patients showed 46% seropositiveness for IgG-RF and 40% for IgM-RF. Patients with fresh central nervous system (CNS) injuries were 12% and 14% seropositive, respectively. Patients with osteochondrosis exhibited 33% seropositiveness for IgG-RF. The determination of serum RF enables us to identify the systemic body lesion in the SCI late stages as a rheumatoid disease. These data support the conclusion that RF determination is a reliable serological indicator of the severity of a patient's traumatic disease.