Effect of radon-containing baths on the level of immunoglobulins in rheumatoid diseases

In 18 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 19 with ankylosing spondylitis and 61 with degenerative joint disease quantitative determinations of IgA, IgG and IgM globulins were done before and after 3 weeks of treatment with radon-containing baths. In the group of rheumatoid arthritis patients most responded to this treatment with a fall of IgG level, in some cases a slight rise of IgG was observed. A reverse pattern of changes was observed during determination of IgA and IgM, since in most cases these globulins rose, and in only some cases they fell. In a small part of this group the IgA level fell below the lower normal range. The observed increase of decrease of globulins was independent of the initial level indicating thus no tendency for normalization but rather for deviation from the normal. In the group of ankylosing spondylitis the pattern of change of IgA, IgM and IgG after treatment was rather uniform since in most cases these globulins increased. Some concern has been caused by the fact that the rise of IgG level after radon-containing bath exceeded the upper normal limit in healthy controls. The most favourable response was in patients with degenerative joint disease since the result of this treatment could be regarded as return to normal, because the values of globulins after treatment approached most the mean values in healthy subjects. (author)