Enthesopathy at the superior or inferior surface of a calcaneus may be seen in normal individuals having degenerative osteoarthrosis. This condition is also known to occur in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, seronegative spondyloarthropathy, trauma, as well as inflammatory and metabolic diseases. Enthesopathy may sometimes be the first manifestation of a variety of rheumatic diseases. In thi...

Infliximab is a chimeric anti-tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) monoclonal antibody with high affinity and binding specificity for human TNFalpha. Results from several well designed, controlled clinical trials show repeated infusions of infliximab with concomitant methotrexate (MTX) treatment can reduce the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This combination of infliximab an...

Spondyloarthropathy is a painful arthritic affliction of humans that also occurs in wild mammals. Important questions remain concerning the underlying causes of spondyloarthropathy in mammals, particularly regarding whether it is infectious in origin or driven by genetic predisposition and environmental stressors. Moreover, spondyloarthropathy has negative effects on host fitness, leading to po...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to describe the clinical characteristics of uveitis related to psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and also to compare the uveitis in PsA to the uveitis in spondyloarthropathy (SA). METHODS Sixteen patients with uveitis and PsA were evaluated in a tertiary care uveitis clinic. These patients were compared retrospectively to a series of 89 patients with uveitis an...

the pelvis and lumbar spine. Although the spondyloarthropathies are grouped together, they display distinct clinical features. It is likely that an interplay among genetic, environmental, and immunologic factors is responsible for the various clinical manifestations of these diseases. Infection with an unknown organism or exposure to an unknown antigen in a genetically susceptible patient (HLA-...

Recent therapeutic advances, in particular the use of anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents, have revived interest in the seronegative spondyloarthropathies (SpA), a group of arthritides characterised by axial skeletal involvement and the absence of rheumatoid factor. The purpose of this article is to review the studies that have been done in the Asia Pacific region, as a broad understa...

Methods We plan to include patients, agreeing with clinical and genetic diagnosis of FMF, who suffer from FMF attacks, at least once per month, in one of the sites commonly involved by FMF (Chest, abdomen, lower extremity large joints, and skin), despite treatment with colchicine 2 mg/ day or less (in case of colchicine intolerance). Involvement with other diseases relevant (vasculitis, spondyl...

No serum IgA was detected in a young male patient suffering from spondylarthropathy (SpA) with bilateral sacroiliitis arthritis, enthesopathy and inflammatory low back pain, whose symptoms occurred in reaction to a sexually induced urethritis. After a period of several months in which the spondylarthropathy was active, disease activity came to a rest. Three years later no progression of the SpA...

BACKGROUND Accurate prevalence data are important when interpreting diagnostic tests and planning for the health needs of a population, yet no such data exist for axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) in the UK. In this cross-sectional cohort study we aimed to estimate the prevalence of axSpA in a UK primary care population. METHODS A validated self-completed questionnaire was used to screen primar...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of tarsitis as one of the first symptoms of juvenile spondyloarthropathy (JSpA) and to analyze whether patients with tarsitis at onset differ from those without it. METHODS A retrospective chart review was performed, from January 1996 to September 2007, at a paediatric rheumatology unit of a tertiary university hospital. RESULTS...