tetracycline and Spondylitis--Ankylosing

In the pathogenesis of spondyloarthropathies, infection and gut inflammation are the most important external triggering factors. Early antimicrobial therapy to treat urethritis caused by Chlamydia trachomatis is effective in preventing a recurrent reactive arthritis. When the arthritis appear, a short term conventional antimicrobial therapy is unable to modify its course. In acute chlamydia arthritis, patients benefit from a prolonged (3-month) treatment with tetracycline, while such a treatment has not proved to be effective in enteroarthritis or in chronic forms of reactive arthritis. The role of sulfasalazine in the treatment of patients with spondyloarthropathies is controversial. It might modify the disease course during acute and chronic reactive arthritis, and is working for patients with ankylosing spondylitis, especially patients with peripheral arthritis. Data showing an effect of sulfasalazine in the prevention of chronic spondyloarthropathy or in modification of the long-term prognosis of ankylosing spondylitis are, however, lacking.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antirheumatic Agents; Arthritis, Infectious; Chlamydia Infections; Chlamydia trachomatis; Disease Progression; Humans; Inflammation; Prognosis; Spondylitis, Ankylosing; Sulfasalazine; Tetracycline

Topics: Animals; Antigens, Bacterial; HLA-B27 Antigen; Humans; Rats; Risk Factors; Spondylitis, Ankylosing; Tetracycline

To report the presence of an asymptomatic cilium in the subconjunctival area and an adjacent sterile scleral ulcer, together as a complication of subtenon injection of steroids, and the resolution of the ulcer despite the in situ cilium.. Medical management of a 51-year-old man, who was a known case of ankylosing spondylitis, with a 3-mm scleral ulcer located in the inferior palpebral area with one adjacent fully embedded cilium at the probable site of subtenon injection given for suspected acute iridocyclitis.. On altering the medication, the ulcer resolved completely. This occurred despite the in situ cilium, which did not act as a nidus for infection or inflammation.. The presence of cilia did not adversely affect the outcome of treatment of the adjacent ulcer. Therefore, if there is no exposure of the entrapped cilium through the conjunctiva, as was in this case, conservative management of the ulcer and not trying to remove the cilium seems to be a good alternative as opposed to reports in literature, which warrant its removal in most cases.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Ascorbic Acid; Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium; Chloramphenicol; Cilia; Conjunctival Diseases; Drug Therapy, Combination; Eye Foreign Bodies; Humans; Iatrogenic Disease; Injections, Intraocular; Iridocyclitis; Male; Middle Aged; Scleral Diseases; Spondylitis, Ankylosing; Steroids; Tetracycline; Ulcer; Vitamins

Five spine specimens obtained at autopsy and five biopsies of sacroiliac joints from subjects with ankylosing spondylitis were submitted to microradiography and to fluorescence microscopy for detection of tetracycline. Decalcified histological sections were also prepared. Microradiography provides a link between the clinical X-ray picture and the classical decalcified section; it enables calcified cartilage, and hence the early stage of most syndesmophytes to be recognised more easily and accurately; It revealed a peculiar calcification of elastic fibers of the ligamentum flavum. Tetracycline labels showed that: in an early case of sacro-iliac arthritis, calcification of the articular cartilage might partly explain the desification of the X-ray picture; syndesmophytes were thickening at both their superficial and deep faces; thickening, lengthening and internal remodelling of the intervertebral bridges occurred together; and calcium was deposited at the end-plates as well.

Topics: Adult; Calcinosis; Cartilage, Articular; Humans; Intervertebral Disc; Ligaments; Male; Microradiography; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Middle Aged; Sacroiliac Joint; Spondylitis, Ankylosing; Tetracycline

Topics: Aged; Autopsy; Cartilage, Articular; Decalcification Technique; Femur Head; Fluorescence; Humans; Ilium; Lumbar Vertebrae; Male; Microradiography; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Ossification, Heterotopic; Osteocytes; Sacroiliac Joint; Sacrum; Spondylitis, Ankylosing; Tetracycline

Topics: Adult; Aged; Biopsy; Bone Resorption; Female; Fractures, Spontaneous; Haversian System; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Osteoporosis; Phenylbutazone; Radiotherapy; Ribs; Salicylates; Spinal Diseases; Spondylitis, Ankylosing; Tetracycline

Topics: Administration, Oral; Biopsy; Female; Histological Techniques; Humans; Ilium; Male; Middle Aged; Osteoclasts; Spondylitis, Ankylosing; Tetracycline

Topics: Adult; Biopsy; Bone Regeneration; Female; Humans; Ilium; Male; Microradiography; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Necrosis; Osteitis; Sclerosis; Spondylitis, Ankylosing; Tetracycline