Rheumatoid arthritis and tabetic arthropathy: physiopathological link or simple association?

To the best of our knowledge, the association of rheumatoid arthritis and tabetic arthropathy has never been described before in the literature. We report here a first observation. We report the case of a 50-year-old man, treated for syphilitic arthritis evolving for 4 years, who presented with a table of rheumatoid arthritis. The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis was established according to the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria (ACR/EULAR). The treatment was based on weekly injection of methotrexate and a symptomatic treatment by corticosteroid. The association of rheumatoid arthritis and tabetic arthropathy is rare, to our knowledge this is the first case reported. This case reminds us that a neuropathic arthropathy as tabetic arthropathy, although it is rare, can be associated in a sporadic or exceptional way with other rheumatic disease like rheumatoid arthritis. A physiopathological link between the both diseases remains to be proved.