Three Cases of Overlap Syndrome Consisting of Systemic Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.
10.3904/kjm.2015.88.3.350
- Author:
Seulkee LEE
1
;
Kwai Han YOO
;
Keol LEE
;
In Young KIM
;
Hee Jin KWON
;
Hyemin JEONG
;
Eun Mi KOH
Author Information
1. Department of Internal Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. emkoh@skku.edu
- Publication Type:Case Report
- Keywords:
Systemic sclerosis;
Rheumatoid arthritis
- MeSH:
Arthralgia;
Arthritis, Rheumatoid*;
Classification;
Humans;
Korea;
Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic;
Polymyositis;
Scleroderma, Systemic*
- From:Korean Journal of Medicine
2015;88(3):350-355
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
Overlap syndrome is defined as a disease entity that fulfills the classification criteria of at least two different rheumatologic diseases simultaneously. Overlap of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is less common than the overlap of polymyositis with SSc or systemic lupus erythematosus. Distinguishing RA from SSc can be difficult because arthralgia is a frequent symptom of both. We observed three cases of RA and SSc overlap. In each case, RA occurred in sequence with SSc, with a period of 4-15 years between the onset of each disease. In one case, the patient had diffuse SSc, which is rare among overlap syndrome patients. Previously, only one case of overlap syndrome involving SSc and RA has been reported in Korea; herein, we report our cases with a review of the literature.
