[Circulating immune complexes in rheumatoid arthritis. Results of a personal research (author's transl)].

Using the technic of Pillot and Grangeot (précipitation by PEG 6,000 at 2.5%, followed radial immuno-diffusion), the authors have detected circulating immune complexes (CIC) 38 times in a group of 55 RA. The presence of CIC is significantly more frequent in sero-positive RA, but without correlation between the concentration of CIC and the positivity rate of Waaler-Rose reaction. There is no correlation between the evolutive state of RA and the presence or the concentration of CIC. The sedimentation rate is, in mean, significantly higher in RA with CIC; but, among these, there is no correlation between sedimentation rate and the concentration of CIC. In the group studied, the CIC are present in all cases of RA with vasculitis or visceral symptoms.