Arthritis Robustus: review of a case of an “abnormal” rheumatoid

INTRODUCTION: Incidental discovery or diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis where the patient remains blissfully unaware of his affection is a rare occurrence. CASE DESCRIPTION: We present the case of a telephone wireman in whom Rheumatoid Arthritis neither affected his activities of daily living nor caused any deformity to develop. It remained asymptomatic till its incidental discovery during his admission for treatment of myocardial infarction. DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION: This presentation of Rheumatoid Arthritis is termed ‘Arthritis Robustus’ and goes against the very tenets of the picture of Rheumatoid Arthritis we have in our minds. The name given to this entity stems from the fact that these patients are mostly physical labourers i.e. ‘Robust’. CONCLUSION: Rheumatoid Arthritis can very rarely be asymptomatic. The rarity of the entity can be inferred from the paucity of published literature.