PURPOSE OF REVIEW The past 18 months has seen considerable advances in the use of MRI for assessment of ankylosing spondylitis, to quantify active inflammation in the spine and sacroiliac joints which may not otherwise be detectable and to therefore measure change due to therapeutic interventions. RECENT FINDINGS Characterization of the extension and morphology of inflammation in ankylosing s...

We compared the incidence, nature and frequency of chest pain in a group of 45 ankylosing spondylitis patients with an age and sex matched group of normals. Twenty-five ankylosing spondylitis patients had experienced recurrent chest pain compared to three normals, and had a significantly reduced chest expansion. The presence of chest pain in ankylosing spondylitis can be an early presenting fea...

A previously healthy 46-year-old male presented to the emergency department with the sole complaint of lower back pain after being struck by a car while walking. Physical examination revealed the patient to be hemodynamicaly stable and in moderate distress secondary to back pain. Maintaining spinal precautions, the patient was log-rolled and found to have midline lumbar spine tenderness with a ...

BACKGROUND Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that plays essential roles in calcium and phosphorus metabolism, bone formation and mineralization homeostasis, also has a role in the maintenance of immune-homeostasis. OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate seasonal serum vitamin D levels and seasonal disease activity in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Osteoarthritis. ME...

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease, which is characterized by inflammation of the spine and the sacroiliac joints. To date, the disease etiology remains unclear. In the present study, the correlation of T lymphocyte subset changes with the progression of ankylosing spondylitis was investigated. A total of 55 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (22 severe and 23 ...

Common polymorphisms of microRNA gene MIR146A were reported as associated with different autoimmune diseases, include systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriatic arthritis, asthma and ankylosing spondylitis. In this study we investigated MIR146A SNPs in Chinese people with ankylosing spondylitis. Three common SNPs: rs2910164, rs2431697 and rs57095329 were selected and genotyped in 611 patients and ...

We have found increased small intestinal permeability to 51Cr-ethylenediaminetetra acetate in patients with ankylosing spondylitis compared with controls. There is no significant difference between patients with ankylosing spondylitis and patients with rheumatoid arthritis taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID). The increased intestinal permeability in ankylosing spondylitis is in...

Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis versus Ankylosing Spondylitis: Brief Case Review D idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis is an idiopathic form of degenerative arthritis. It is usually characterized by exuberant bony growth along the anterior longitudinal ligament and typically affects males over 60 years of age. Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, previously known as Forestier’s disea...

conclusions: in this study, delay in diagnosis was similar to other studies. educating physicians to careful history taking especially in the case of ibp, non-musculoskeletal symptoms such as uveitis and precise physical examination are important in early diagnosis. patients and methods: sixty patients, (53 males, 7 females) with a diagnosis of as according to the modified new york criteria wer...

the human major histocompatibility complex (mhc) plays a crucial role in transplantation, transfusion, paternity test and assessment of susceptibility to some diseases associated with hla-b27. three of the most fashionable methods for determination of hla antigens in clinical and research laboratories are microlymphocytotoxicity (mlct), flowcytometry and polymerase chain reaction (pcr). the pur...