Brief Notes Antecubital Cyst in

Two patients with antecubital synovial cysts associated with rheumatoid ar-thritis have recently been described by Ehrlich ‘, but in neither was the cyst explored. The case to be reported is of interest because of the gross and histological findings which supplement the clinical data in Ehrlich’s cases. A sixty-four-year-old white woman was seen because ofpain in the right elbow with rapidly increasing numbness and weakness ofthe right hand oftwo months ’ duration. Six years previously she had noted pain and swelling of both elbows and wrists. Rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed for which the patient was treated with gold salts and Indocin. She had never received steroids sys-temically or by injection into thejoints. When the patient was seen in consultation, she was taking maintenance doses of buffered aspirin. In the two months prior to the consultation, the disease in all joints except the right elbow was quiescent; the pain in the right elbow had become severe and was present even at rest. The right elbow was warm and swollen and was painful through its range of motion of 30 to 90 degrees. There was minimum collateral instability of the elbow. Palpation of the olecranon groove gave a feeling of fluctuance. The ulnar nerve could not be palpated. Manual muscle testin