[Gentic study of paroxystic familial polyseritis. 72 cases].

Study of the mode of hereditary transmission of familial paroxystic polyserositis in Lebanon led us to conclude that the disease was transmitted in a dominant fashion. In almost one third of our families, dominant transmission was certain or probable. In the other families, dominant heredity was not excluded if the hypothesis, supported by many facts, of incomplete penetrance is accepted. The possibility that certain forms of the disease are dominant and others recessive cannot be rejected, but in the absence of biological proff of this genetic heterogeneity it cannot be confirmed. The majority of the patients, as is usual in the disease, were male. The highest risk groups in the Lebanese population are Armenians and Shiite Moslems