Materials and methods We analysed 41 patients with newly diagnosed JIA (25 RF negative polyarthritis, 10 oligoarthritis, 5 undifferentiated and 1 psoriatic arthritis). To evaluate disease activity, clinical (disease type, number of active and inactive joints) and laboratory (CRP, ESR, TNF alfa, ANA titer, HLA B 27 antigen) data were recorded. The level of anti-MCV in the sera of JIA patients an...

Introduction Enthestis related arthritis (era) represent an undifferentiated form of spondyloarthritis (spa), distinguishing it from other subtypes of JIA for optimum treatment and outcome, as well as for studies aimed at understanding genetic predisposition and pathogenesis. Majority of these studies focused on genome associations within MHC, only few searched for connections outside of this r...

INTRODUCTION Atlantoaxial instability has been described as a manifestation of ankylosing spondylitis (juvenile and adult onset), reactive arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis; however, it has rarely been reported as an early manifestation of these disorders. We present this case report to increase awareness of the condition in the hope that earlier recognition of ...

■ In reactive arthritis (ReA), exposure of the host to infectious agents leads to the development of an inflammatory arthritis and other manifestations of systemic disease in the absence of an ongoing infectious process. ■ Approximately 50% of ReA and undifferentiated oligoarthritis cases can be attributed to a specific pathogen by a combination of culture and serology. The predominant organism...

In rheumatology ultrasound is a relatively new but rapidly developing field, and now forms an important part of curriculum of rheumatology training programs in European countries. Ultrasound is now an accepted procedure to differentiate between arthralgia and arthritis, to look for erosions in early arthritis which is otherwise not visible on plain radiographs, to scan tendons in enthesopathies...

OBJECTIVES To compare the pro-inflammatory cytokine profiles and the cytokine kinetics in patients with secondary macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) due to systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis (s-JIA) and in both active and inactive disease states of s-JIA (but no MAS), with those demonstrated in EBV-induced haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) and Kawasaki disease (KD), and to i...

OBJECTIVE To identify variables that can predict a progressive outcome after one year of follow up in patients presenting with undifferentiated polyarthritis (UPA) at an early arthritis clinic. METHODS New patients with arthritis in two or more joints of less than three years' duration were categorised at entry as UPA or as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based on the clinical diagnosis of the rheu...

Spondyloarthropathies belong to a group of rheumatic diseases, in which inflammatory changes affect mainly the sacroiliac joints, spine, peripheral joints, tendon, ligaments and capsule attachments (entheses). This group includes 6 entities: ankylosing spondylitis, arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease, reactive arthritis, undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy, psoriatic arthritis...

INTRODUCTION Non-adherence to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) is suspected to relate to health care costs. In this study we investigated this relation in the first year of treatment. METHODS In a multi-center cohort study with a one year follow up, non-adherence was continuously measured using electronic monitored medication jars. Non-adherence was defined as the number of days...