Periarteritis Nodosa

Kussmaul and Maier1in 1866 first accurately described a definite inflammatory disease of the medium and small arteries. Since then this relatively rare disease has been reported at intervals until a fairly voluminous literature has accumulated on the subject, containing reports of extremely varied clinical manifestations. Ophuls,2in an article on the subject in connection with the report of a case in 1923, found seventy cases recorded to that time, and Rothstein and Welt3found 195 cases recorded to 1933. I have been able to find an additional twenty cases in the literature.4While a critical review of some of the cases reported might leave some doubt as to their being true periarteritis nodosa, since other vascular lesions can be confused with those of this disease,5nearly all the cases reported so closely conform in their pathologic characteristics that there is little doubt that the