Case report and review of the literature. Fatal pulmonary complication in ankylosing spondylitis

Deaths Associated with Ankylosing Spondylitis in France from 1969 to 2009

OBJECTIVE

To describe deaths for which ankylosing spondylitis (AS) was on death certificates in France.

METHODS

Death certificates in which AS was indicated were evaluated. Standard mortality ratio (SMR) was assessed.

RESULTS

AS appeared in 2940 death certificates. The mortality rate of AS seemed stable. The most frequent initial causes were diseases of the circulatory system [28.3% in the International Classification of Diseases, 10th ed (ICD-10)]. SMR adjusted for age and sex were 2.1 (95% CI 1.45-2.91) for infections and 0.43 (0.36-0.5) for cancers (ICD-10 period).

CONCLUSION

This study found an increase in mortality from infectious and external causes of death; conversely, patients with AS appear to die less frequently from cancer.

Mortality in spondylarthritis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory joint disease that can lead to chronic pain in axial and peripheral joints and to functional impairments after several years. Excess mortality has been reported in patients with AS. We reviewed recent studies of patients with AS who were treated and monitored according to the improved methods developed in the past few years, without radiation therapy. Our results do not support excess mortality in these patients. Long-term follow-up data from patients enrolled in biologics registries will provide additional information. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in patients with AS, as in the general population. However, the cardiovascular mortality rate may be slightly increased in patients with AS, probably as a result of dyslipidemia and early endothelial dysfunction. Similarly, and as expected, there is excess mortality related to the spinal disease itself and to renal and gastrointestinal disease. More surprisingly, alcohol abuse and injury or suicide cause excess mortality compared to the general population. In the absence of radiation or radium-224 therapy, and regardless of the other treatments used, the evidence does not support an increased rate of lymphoma or other malignancies compared to the general population. In this review, we discuss the causes and rates of mortality in patients with AS.

Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Disease-Related Pulmonary Apical Fibrosis in Ankylosing Spondylitis

Objective.

We investigated the etiological association and clinical characteristics of apical pulmonary fibrosis in ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

Methods.

We reviewed medical records of 2136 consecutive patients diagnosed with AS at a tertiary medical center. Clinical and radiographic characteristics were analyzed for evidence of apical lung fibrosis on chest radiographs.

Results.

Of 2136 patients with AS, 63 (2.9%) developed apical lung fibrosis, of which chronic infections were the cause in 41 and AS inflammation predisposed the fibrosis in 22 patients. Tuberculosis (TB) infection was considered to be the cause of apical lung fibrosis in 40 patients (63.5%) including 19 with bacteriologically-proven TB and 21 with chest radiographs suggestive of TB. Two were identified as having non-TB mycobacterial infection and one as Aspergillus infection. Lung cavity lesion appeared to be a crucial differentiator (p = 0.009, odds ratio 7.4, 95% CI 1.5–36.0) between TB infection and AS inflammation-induced apical fibrosis.

Conclusion.

Our study suggests that TB, instead of Aspergillus, is the most common pulmonary infection in patients with AS presenting with apical lung fibrosis. AS-associated apical lung fibrosis may mimic pulmonary TB infection. Thus, bacteriological survey and serial radiological followup of lung fibrocavitary lesions are critical for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis: no evidence for the involvement of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB1) gene polymorphisms

BACKGROUND

Genetic factors are thought to be crucial in the pathogenesis of ankylosing spondylitis. Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF beta 1) is a multifunctional cytokine that plays a key role in inflammation. Two functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TGFB1 gene have been described: TGFB1 T869C and TGFB1 G915C.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether these SNPs contribute to ankylosing spondylitis susceptibility or its disease characteristics.

METHODS

Genomic DNA was isolated from the peripheral blood of 134 patients with ankylosing spondylitis and 194 healthy blood donors. All subjects were unrelated and of white Dutch ethnicity. The diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis was made according to the modified New York criteria. The TGFB1 T869C and TGFB1 G915C SNPs were genotyped by a polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism haplotyping method.

RESULTS

No significant differences were found between patients and controls in genotype, allele, and haplotype frequencies or in the carrier rate of the rare alleles of the TGFB1 T869C and TGFB1 G915C SNPs.

CONCLUSIONS

TGFB1 T869C and TGFB1 G915C SNPs are not major factors in the susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis or its disease characteristics.

Renal diseases in ankylosing spondylitis: review of the literature illustrated by case reports

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) can be accompanied by extraarticular manifestations in the cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurologic and renal organs. Secondary renal amyloidosis is the most common cause of renal involvement in AS (62%) followed by IgA nephropathy (30%), mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (5%) as well as rarely membranous nephropathy (1%), focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (1%) and focal proliferative glomeruleonephritis (1%). Treatment associated nephrotoxicity may result from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or disease modifying agents. The purpose of this paper was to alert for the possibility of renal damage in AS and to analyse the frequencies of different etiologies of renal involvement. Two typical case reports of renal involvement in AS are presented to illustrate the clinical course of such patients. Renal side effects and possible pre-existing renal diseases should be taken into account while choosing the appropriate medication for patients with AS.