ankylosing spondilitis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: There are four efficacious subcutaneous anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) agents used for the therapy of ankylosing spondilitis (AS), but apparently little or no differences in their effectiveness was proven. By this study, we aimed to compare Assessment in Ankylosing Spondylitis Response Criteria 20 response patterns (ASAS20) between subcutaneous approved biological agents in patients affected by ankylosing spondylitis by means of a mixed treatment comparison of different randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the efficacy of biological therapies...

OBJECTIVE: Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the sacroiliac joint and vertebral column. Pentraxin (PTX) 3 is an acute phase protein known to be associated with chronic inflammation. This study was performed to test the hypothesis that serum PTX3 levels might be elevated as a marker of inflammation in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 73 patients older than 20 years (48 males, 25 females, mean age 32...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of methotrexate (MTX) in the treatment of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The literature on controlled clinical trials was searched from MEDLINE, EMBASE, OVID, and Cochrane Library databases up to November 2012. The quality of the studies included was evaluated publicly by two reviewers. A meta-analysis was conducted to the homogeneous studies using Cochrane systematic review. Three trials involving 116 patients compared treatment with MTX against placebo. No statistically significant differences (p < 0...

INTRODUCTION: Spondyloarthritis (SpA) comprises a group of diseases often associated with HLA-B27 and characterized by inflammation of the entheses and joints of the axial skeleton. The inflammatory process in SpA is presumably driven by innate immune cells but is still poorly understood. Thus, new tools for monitoring and treating inflammation are needed. The family of CD18 integrins is pivotal in guiding leukocytes to sites of inflammation, and CD18 hypomorphic mice develop a disease resembling SpA...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: A retro-prospective study was carried out on a sample of 678 patients suffering from ankylosing spondilitis (AS), admitted in the Clinic of Rheumatology, Rehabilitation Hospital, Iaşi. RESULTS: The analysis highlighted that 86.8% were males, with a soft predominance of urban area (57.1%). Over 50% of the entire sample was exposed to risk factors from industrial area; 11.6% from agriculture; 10.5%--various categories of intellectuals, and 17...

This study was performed to compare radiologic methods of Bath Ankylosing Spondilitis Radiology Index-spine (BASRI-s), Bath Ankylosing Spondilitis Radiology Index-total (BASRI-t), Stoke Ankylosing Spondilitis Spine Score (SASSS) and Modified Stoke Ankylosing Spondilitis Spine Score (M-SASSS) and to test their superiority over each other. Eighty-one patients (60 males, 21 females) with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) were included in the study. Patients were evaluated for their functional status, disease activity, quality of life, and spinal mobility using Bath AS Functional Index (BASFI), Bath AS Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), AS Quality of Life Index (ASQoL) scale, and Bath AS Metrology Index (BASMI), respectively...

BACKGROUND: Ankylosing spondilitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease with prominent inflammation in joints and extraarticular organs. AS patients have approximately two times more risk of mortality than the normal population. One reason for this increase in mortality is increased cardiovascular risk. In this study, we have aimed to evaluate myocardial perfusion and left ventricular function using (99m)Tc-MIBI gated myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)...

BACKGROUND: It is well-known that pulmonary function is altered in patients with ankylosing spondilitis (AS) owing mainly to the restriction of chest expansion. In addition to musculoskeletal factors, development of pulmonary function abnormalities may also deteriorate exercise tolerance of the patients. AIM: The aim of this study was to examine the pulmonary function and exercise tolerance of AS patients. DESIGN: A case controlled study. SETTING: Outpatient clinic of an university hospital...

This study was carried out to determine the serum levels of melatonin (MLT) in patients with ankylosing spondilitis (AS) and to evaluate its correlation with disease activity. We assessed clinical characteristics and labaratory parameters. Serum samples from 36 patients (25 males, 11 females) with active AS and 25 healthy subjects (18 males, 7 females) were collected. MLT levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and disease activity of AS was assessed according to the Bath AS disease activity index (BASDAI), the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP)...

OBJECTIVE: Several lines of evidence point to a polarized T-helper-1 (Th1) immune response in Behçet's disease (BD). Interferon (IFN)-alpha which has an ability to promote strong Th1 type immune response has been shown to increase in patients with BD. In order to clarify if plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) abnormally respond to a stimulus in patients with BD, we investigated the levels of intracellular IFN-alpha and beta in pDCs with or without CpG D ODN stimulation. METHODS: The study population consisted of 8 patients with clinically active BD, 8 ankylosing spondilitis (AS) patients having active disease and 11 healthy volunteers...

AIM: To study autonomous regulation of cardiac activity in patients with alkylosing spondylitis (AS) according to heart rate variability. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 51 male patients aged 35.4 +/- 7.3 years with verified AS participated in the trial. Patients with manifest cardiovascular pathology, disturbances of cardiac rhythm or conduction were not included. All the patients were screened for basic cardiovascular risk factors. AS activity was studied with a clinical index BASDAI and acute phase indices...

Biological therapies consisting of monoclonal antibodies and soluble receptors have revolutionized the care of rheumatologic patients. These therapies ensued from a better understanding of the physiopathology of rheumatologic disorders. Most of the latter have been concerned: rheumatoid arthritis (for about 10 years), psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondilitys (for more or less five years). Rheumatology was among the first disciplines to make use of these advances; it continues to benefit from the results of intense research efforts...

AIM: To detect factors associated with onset of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with ankylosing spondilitis (AS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: 102 patients aged 38.1 +/- 8.9 years (18-58 years) with a documented diagnosis of AS were examined with estimation of clinical idices, smoking status, spinal motility, chest excurtion, AS activity, severity of functional impairment. External respiration function was assessed at spirography, systolic pressure in the pulmonary artery (SPPA) was studied with echocardiography...

INTRODUCTION: Ankylosing spondilitis (AS) is a disease from a group of seronegative spondyloarthropathies with the prevalence of 0.1% affecting mainly young males, which also gives sociomedical significance to the disease. Among all inflammatory arthropathies, AS is the most suitable for balneotherapy. Thermomineral water of the Niska Banja spa is homeothermic, oligomineral, alkaline, low radioactive radon water and also, in conjunction with mineral peloid, is considered to be optimal for this indication...

A recent publication on both chromosome-type and chromatid-type aberrations in lymphocytes of patients during treatment with radium-224 for ankylosing spondilitis has revived the question of whether the chromatid-type aberrations may be the consequence of factors released by irradiated cells. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of such a bystander phenomenon on the chromosome aberration pattern of lymphocytes. Monolayers of human lymphocytes were irradiated with 1 Gy of alpha-particles from an americium-241 source in the absence or presence of whole blood, autologous plasma or culture medium...

The aim of this study is to evaluate the presence of antibodies to carbonic anhydrase I and/or II (ACAI and ACAII) in patients affected by connective tissue diseases (CTD) and to investigate their association with lung involvement evaluated by High resolution CT scan (HRCT). Ninety-six patients affected by CTD were studied, i.e. 33 rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 8 psoriatic arthritis (PA), 8 ankylosing spondilitis (AS), 23 Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), 10 Sjogren Syndrome (SS), and 14 Systemic Sclerosis (SSc)...

Antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) have become routine laboratory parameters in clinical hospitals. However, ANA testing by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) assays is not an automated laboratory test. Efforts are being made to develop easy and semi- or automated methods to screen for ANAs. We evaluated the clinical performance of a new ELISA developed to screen for connective tissue disease related ANAs. The presence of serum ANA was studied with a commercial ELISA (Varelisa ANA CTD Screen) in 472 patients (202 SLE, 41 Sjögren syndrome, 11 CREST, 59 rheumatoid arthritis, 30 seronegative spondyloarthropaties, 77 inflammatory bowel disease, 13 reactive arthritis, 11 giant cell arteritis, 28 ankylosing spondilitis)...

Physical exercise (PE) is a regular component in various disorders management, such as ankylosing spondilitis (AS). AS is a chronic and systematic rheumatic disorder without an effective treatment to restore the health. PE plays an important role on the prevention and management of the deformities related to AS. This review summarizes the randomized controlled trials that have examined the role of PE in AS patients' therapeutic process in order to promote an evidence based practise and to improve the AS patients care...

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an inflammatory disorder with unknown etiology that mainly affects the axial skeleton as well as the peripheral joints and extra-articular structures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidative status (TOS) and oxidative stress index (OSI) in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Fifty AS patients with a mean Bath AS Activity Index (BASDAI) 4.6 (range 4-9.3) and 26 healthy controls were included in the study. Plasma TAS, TOS levels were determined by using novel automated methods...