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The author commemorates, in the 20th year since his death, Camillo Benso Ballabio, unforgettable figure of rheumatologist, renowned clinician, man of great culture. The most important stages of his life are described, by adding to the biographical sketches some quotations that confirm the intellectual depth of such a protagonist of the history of the Italian rheumatology.

Experience in therapy with sulindac and S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe) is reported. Sulindac is an indene derivative which is particularly indicated in degenerative skeletal diseases and is essentially free from the well-known side-effects of traditional analgesics. The results of therapy were good in 75%. SAMe is the most important methyl group donor and is consequently responsible for the methylation (inactivation) of histamine, upon which its antiphlogistic action is based. SAMe is also particularly involved in the transfer of sulfate groups in the body. Sulfur compounds are esentially involved in the synthesis of cartilage. The short-term trials with SAMe were altogether more favorable than the longterm trials, yet there was a longterm effect in about half the cases.

Topical steroid treatment of the carpal tunnel syndrome gives outstanding results in mild or moderately severe types of nerve lesion. In many patients in whom there was improvement of function and cessation of pain, not everything was achieved that we consider to be the aim of an ideal treatment. Normalisation of nerve function and the elimination of the pathophysiological mechanism responsible for the compression often make surgical treatment essential.