In recent years sulphasalazine has gained acceptance as an effective agent for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Ankylosing spondylitis is a disease where remission inducing drugs so far have been lacking. In this double blind trial sulphasalazine was compared with placebo in 37 patients with ankylosing spondylitis. Evaluation after three months' treatment showed reduction of inflammatory ...

Rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis are often difficult to differentiate, though it is important to do so as the natural history and treatment of the two conditions differ. Nine patients have recently been seen, each of whom fulfilled the criteria for both rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. In eight of the nine patients the histocompatibility antigen HLA-27 was present...

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease that mainly affects axial joints and the changes in the vertebrae cause typical kyphotic posture. In patients with ankylosing spondylitis, the postural changes, including cervical flexion, decreased lumbar lordosis, posterior rotation of pelvis, hip extension, knee flexion, and plantar flexion of ankle along with kyphosis, may occur in th...

Development of pulmonary fibrocystic disease in the upper lobes is a well recognised extraskeletal manifestation of ankylosing spondylitis but its pathogenesis is obscure.' 2 Although pulmonary fibrosis may occur in association with other collagen vascular diseases, a predilection for the upper lobes is unique to ankylosing spondylitis. The fibrocystic disease is usually asymptomatic; if sympto...

The association between HLA-B27 and ankylosing spondylitis is well established more than thirty years. In spite of numerous studies in this field, a lot of unknown is still present. In this review, polymorphism, evolution, distribution and current pathogenetic hypotheses are presented.

THE neglected case of progressive ankylosing spondylitis is a tragedy. Like so many other disease processes, early diagnosis and appropriate therapeutic measures are essential if a satisfying result is to be obtained; particularly in this disease which is predominantly one of younger age groups. An analysis of a small series of patients, thirty-four in all, studied at the Northern Ireland Radio...

This is a concise overview of the history of medical therapies for patients suffering from ankylosing spondylitis. Recent therapeutic advances are also summarised.