Circulating immunoblasts were studied in 39 cases of ankylosing spondylitis. The results were compared with 20 normal subjects and a group of 39 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, Immunoblasts were found to be increased in 11 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and in 22 patients with rheumatoid arthritis in contrast to the controls who were found to have a normal lymphoid cell population in ...

A patient with a 10 year history of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and Bence Jones proteinuria, and a 44 year history of ankylosing spondylitis, developed a nephrotic syndrome secondary to renal amyloidosis. Clinically the amyloidosis was ascribed to Bence Jones proteinuria rather than to the burnt out ankylosing spondylitis. However, histochemical and immunofluorescence sta...

In a retrospective study of 399 patients with ulcerative colitis, 27 patients had colitic arthritis, 17 had ankylosing spondylitis, and 20 had clubbing of the fingers. Colitic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis were not related to severity, extent of involvement, or duration of colitis. A significant association between colitic arthropathy and other complications of ulcerative colitis, such a...

All patients with ankylosing spondylitis attending our rheumatology clinics were reviewed to assess the effect of their disease on employment. Back movement was measured in three planes, chest expansion determined, and peripheral joint involvement was noted to see whether these correlated with work capability. Sixty patients were reviewed (47 men, 13 women; mean disease duration 24.3 years). Ni...

A study was conducted to compare the gait pattern of 12 patients with ankylosing spondylitis with axial disease only with that of 11 healthy controls using a telemeterised electrogoniometer gait analysis system. The reproducibility of the gait variables was found to be acceptable. Angles for movement at the hip and knee were less in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, but hip/knee angle ratio...

The association between the major histocompatibility antigen HLA-B27 and ankylosing spondylitis is the strongest of all known associations between class I HLA and disease. Over 90% of patients with ankylosing spondylitis have B27,1 whereas it is found only in 7-15% of normal white subjects. In addition, B27 is associated with certain reactive inflammatory conditions following gastrointestinal o...

Amyloid disease is rare as a complication of ankylosing spondylitis. The autopsies of Teilum and Lindahl (1954) included two such cases but no clinical details were given. A third case, in which the final histological diagnosis was also made at autopsy, was reported by Halford and Clark (1957). The aim of this paper is to report three cases of ankylosing spondylitis in which the presence of amy...

Relatively few patients develop such severe degenerative temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disease that they require total joint replacement. Current indications include those conditions involving condylar bone loss such as degenerative (osteoarthritis) or inflammatory joint disease (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid, and psoriatic). Ankylosis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) secondary to anky...

A case of ankylosing spondylitis with aortic valve disease and hearing loss is described. A series of radiographic and audiometric investigations showed the hearing loss to be of a conductive type. It seemed most likely that the hearing loss was related to an inflammatory involvement of the ossicular joints due to the primary disease. No other case of conductive hearing loss has previously been...

A 56 year old man with ankylosing spondylitis and discovertebral destruction presented with signs of spinal cord compression that was the result of the soft tissue reaction occurring at the level of the discovertebral destruction. This case emphasises the importance of early recognition, use of appropriate imaging techniques (computed tomographic myelography or magnetic resonance), and operativ...