Lymphoid Irradiation for Rheumatoid Arthritis

To the Editor: The lack of controls in the "pilot" radiation experiments 1 , 2 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (October 22 issue) is difficult to understand. Did the investigators think that there were inadequate numbers of qualified patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were willing to volunteer for such a project? That the added information obtainable from simultaneously sham-treated controls would have been superfluous? That a subsequent moratorium on the use of such treatment until properly controlled studies had been done would work no hardship on other such patients or their physicians? That the need for such controls could not have been anticipated . . . No extract is available for articles shorter than 400 words.