THE FILAMENT-NONFILAMENT COUNT IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

To the Editor:—  The article by Short, Dienes and Bauer on "Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Comparative Evaluation of the Commonly Employed Diagnostic Tests" (The Journal, June 19) is a timely and much needed study of an important phase of arthritis. Unfortunately, the discussion of the immature polymorphonuclear count, in which the authors appear to use the terms "Schilling count" and "filament-nonfilament count" synonymously, may prove confusing to your readers. They group the results of various reports on the young polymorphonuclear counts in arthritis without comment on the differences in technic and significance and state, for example, that "in respect to Schilling or filament-nonfilament counts, conclusions are not unanimous, with results ranging from 52 per cent, 68 per cent, 78 per cent and 91 per cent to 100 per cent." A similar lack of clarity in considering these diagnostic polymorphonuclear counts in another recent publication (Cecil, R. L.: The Diagnosis and Treatment