Ankylosing Spondylitis (eBook)

Joachim Sieper, MD is Consultant and Head of Rheumatology at the Charité University Hospital, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany. A prolific researcher and writer, he has been an investigator since 1989 and a principal investigator since 1993 on several placebo-controlled randomized trials, which have been published internationally. He has authored an contributed to over 300 journal papers. Jürgan Braun, MD is Medical Director of the Rheumatology Medical Centre, Ruhrgebiet in Herne, Germany and is a lecturer at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. He is also an honorary Professor in Rheumatology at the Charité Medical School in Berlin, Germany. He has been the recipient of several prestigious awards including the Ankylosing Spondylitis Patients Association Award in 1996, the Tosse-Research Award in Pediatric Rheumatology in 1998, the Carol Nachman Research Award in 2000 and the EULAR prize in 2003.

Contents 6
Author biographies 8
Acknowledgements 10
Abbreviations 12
Chapter 1:Introduction 14
A historical perspective 14
Chapter 2:Overview of ankylosing spondylitis 17
The concept and classification of spondyloarthritis 17
Epidemiology of ankylosing spondylitis 18
Aetiopathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis 21
Genetics of ankylosing spondylitis 23
Chapter 3:Clinical manifestations of ankylosing spondylitis 25
Inflammatory back pain 25
Restriction of spinal mobility 26
Extraspinal rheumatic manifestations 31
Enthesitis in peripheral joints 32
Extraarticular locations 34
Juvenile-onset spondyloarthritis 35
Chapter 4:Diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis 36
The modified New York criteria 36
Delay between onset of symptoms and diagnosis 38
Screening for axial SpA among patients with chronic back pain 46
The value of HLA-B27 for screening and diagnosis of axial SpA 47
Chapter 5:Imaging in ankylosing spondylitis 49
Radiographs 49
Magnetic resonance imaging 53
Other imaging techniques 57
Chapter 6:Management of ankylosing spondylitis 59
Drug treatment 61
Which patients should be treated with TNF blockers? 75
Prognostic parameters in ankylosing spondylitis 78
The use of TNF blockers in early non-radiographic axial SpA 79
Other treatment options 80
Which instruments should be used for clinical record keeping? 80
Chapter 7:Socioeconomic aspects of ankylosing spondylitis 83
References 84
Index 90