Spondyloarthropaty

Spondyloarthropaties are the group of seronegative inflammatory rheumatic diseases affecting axial and perpendicular skelet. Most of the patients belong to the work active population and the longterm prognosis and outcome is poor. The diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis is delayed over years, sometimes decades. Our perception of spondyloarthropaties todays is changing. Early diagnosis and agressive treatment could influence to prognosis and outcome. For these purposes we have new diagnostic techniques and new potent drugs...

After investigation of 150 patients with reactive arthritis and undifferentiated spondyloarthropathies, inflammation signs of urogenital tract (uretritis in men and endocervicitis in women) were found in about 2/3 of patients. In those patients with reactive arthritis and undifferentiated spondyloarthropathies Ureaplazma urealyticum was found in more than 1/4 of patients, Mycoplasma hominis - in 1/10 of patients, and both microbes appeared in 1/10 of patients. Micoplasmal infection occurred in equal frequency in patients with reactive arthritis and undifferentiated spondyloarthropathies with a tendency to appear more in women than in men...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate retrospectively the clinical features of children and adolescents with spondiloarthropathies (Sps). METHODS: The charts of all Sps patients followed up in the outpatient Pediatric Rheumatology unit of UNIFESP-EPM, were analyzed from June 1982 to April 2000. The following demographic data were evaluated: age of onset, disease duration, clinical features, laboratory data, radiological findings, treatment and outcome. RESULTS: 10 out of 26 patients (38...

Susceptibility to spondyloarthropaties is strongly associated with some HLA-B27 alleles. Evidence suggests a direct pathogenic role for the B27 molecules which possibly present an arthritogenic peptide to the T cells. If this hypothesis is true, B27 subtypes that differ structurally but are disease-associated ought to be capable of presenting such peptide(s), while non-disease-associated ones would not. We have recently described a B27 subtype, B*2709, and shown its absence in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients...

To evaluate the involvement of the heart in patients with seronegative spondyloarthropathies by echodopplercardiography, 35 patients including 20 with ankylosing spondylitis, 10 with Reiter's syndrome and 5 with psoriatic arthritis (21 men and 14 women, with ages ranging from 17-68 years and averaging 38.5) were studied. Most were asymptomatic with respect to the cardiovascular system (65.71%) and 12 oligosymptomatic with palpitations as their main complaint. Each patient had an echocardiogram and electrocardiogram...