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A 29-year-old white female with longstanding classical rheumatoid arthritis (RA) developed clinical and serological manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with prominent signs of diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis. She fulfilled the ARA criteria for the classification of SLE as well as the ARA criteria for classical RA. The concomitant presence of these two affections in the same patient is rare and the discriminating features suggest that this coexistence may be coincidental. With respect to treatment, our patient had good relief of symptoms by a combined administration of methylprednisolone pulses and cyclophosphamide.

A 71-year-old Caucasian woman with rheumatoid arthritis, who had been treated with gold salts for 19 months, developed a significant proteinuria associated with nephrotic syndrome and renal impairment. Her renal biopsy revealed the unusual simultaneous occurrence of gold nephropathy and renal amyloidosis and she was treated by gold withdrawal, methylprednisolone pulses and azathioprine, with a good remission of symptoms. We describe the case and discuss the possible cause(s) of similar renal involvement and the results obtained with the combined therapy of steroids and cytotoxic drugs.