Two cases of subacromial bursitis with many loose bodies as a cause of rheumatoid arthritis.

Rice bodies caused by T. B. and R. A. in joints are relatively common and reported, but in bursa are rare. We experienced two cases of subacromial bursitis with many rice bodies: one is a 53-year-old female and the other is a 62-year-old male. They were suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for years, and complained of swelling of the shoulder joint, but had no pain and no remarkable limitation of range of motion of the shoulder joint. We resected the bursa containing a lot of rice bodies operatively. Pathologically the rice bodies seemed to grow out of the inner wall of the bursa.