Deforming arthropathy or lupus and rhupus hands in systemic lupus erythematosus

Objective—Although deforming ar-thropathy in systemic lupus erythemato-sus (SLE) is characterised by a number of manifestations, definitive criteria for the diVerent forms have not yet been estab-lished. To define deforming arthropathy and its diVerent types a study was under-taken of 176 SLE patients. Methods—Using as criterion any devia-tion from any of the metacarpus finger axes 17 patients (16 women, one man) were identified with clinical deforming arthropathy. These patients were evalu-ated according to a standardised protoco