PReS-FINAL-2084: Prevalence of cervical spine involvement in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Results 206 patients, 143 girls (69%) and 63 boys (31%) with JIA were followed at University Children’s Hospital Ljubljana from September 2010 to January 2013. Twenty-two out of 206 (11%) patients had pain in the neck and/or limited range of motion of cervical spine. Twelve out of 206 (6%) patients had persistent cervical spine symptoms, MRI of the cervical spine with application of paramagnetic contrast was performed in those. The results revealed inflammation of atlantoaxial (AA) joint without subluxation in 6/206 (3%) patients. Among 6 patients with AA joint inflammation were 5 girls and one boy. Three of them had RF negative polyarthritis, two persistent oligoarthritis and one girl had juvenile psoriatic arthritis. Five out of six (83%) patients were ANA positive and none of them had positive HLA B-27 antigen. In four out of six patients (66%) with AA joint inflammation, the neck pain was an initial manifestation of JIA. Five out of six patients (83%) were treated with anti-TNF alpha agents and demonstrated good clinical recovery.