This book comes from the group associated with the Juvenile Rheumatism Unit at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. This unit, founded by Prof E. G. L. Bywaters and soon joined by Barbara Ansell, was a major source of training for many pediatric rheumatologists around the world, and provided care for hundreds of children with arthritis.
The first chapter by Ansell presents a brief and excellent overview of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), including the recent attempts in the United States, England, and Europe to reclassify these diseases as they appear in children. The development of subclassification in JRA is of value because with it one would be able to better define the course and progression of the disease as it occurs in an individual child. Unfortunately, this theme was not carried out fully in the chapters on surgery. For example, in the chapter on synovectomy of the knee, there was an initial description