Arthritis after jejunoileostomy for intractable obesity.

Joint symptoms developed in six of 33 patients (18%) who had jejunoileostomy as treatment for intractable obesity. These consisted of single or recurrent attacks of polyarthritis or arthralgias, primarily in large joints. The histocompatibility antigen, HL-A B27, was not present in these patients. Most attacks responded to simple analgesic agents, but a trial of tetracycline in one patient failed to relieve joint symptoms. This arthropathy seems to differ from that which has been reported after jejunocolostomy.