Letter: Glucagon therapy in acute pancreatitis.

SIR,-We read with interest the recent letter from Dr. D. A. Rajapakse and Professor E. G. L. Bywaters (24 November, p. 488) concerning immunological investigations in relapsing polychondritis. We should, however, like to correct one misquotation concerning the findings reported by Hughes et al.,' who, by means of a standard indirect immunofluorescent technique using fetal cartilage as a substrate, detected positive diffuse fluorescence throughout the cartilage matrix with sera from only two of 12 (not from all 12) patients with rheumatoid arthritis. We have examined sera from a further 104 patients with probable, definite, or classical rheumatoid arthritis as defined by the American Rheumatism Association2 and detected cartilage matrix fluorescence in 10 (9.6%). Positive results have been found in only one of 102 normal blood donors and in two of 149 patients with a variety of diseases. Of eight patients with relapsing polychondritis tested, three had positive matrix fluorescence and one other showed a weakly positive reaction.3-We are, etc., W. M. SEYMOUR M. H. LESSOF Department of Medicine, Guy's Hospital, London S.E.1