Juvenile ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic progressive inflammatory joint disease, most commonly affecting the spine and pelvis. Patients complain of severe back pain, which is worse in the mornings and improves with movement. In the course of the disease, every fifth patient’s spine completely ossifies, leading to disability. Sometimes the disease also affects other joints, tendons, eyes, and intestines. Symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis are improved by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and physiotherapy. Patients with a family history of ankylosing spondylitis and those with a positive HLA-B27 gene have a high risk of developing this disease. Usually, the disease begins in the third decade of life and is more common in men.

Source | Author Doctor Nikas Samuolis, reviewed by Prof. Virginijus Šapoka | Vilnius University | Faculty of Medicine | Head of the Department of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, and Oncology