This condition is most frequently diagnosed in young adults and can begin up to the age of 20 years.
Dr. Amaryles Perez de Jesus, rheumatologist. Photo: Journal of Medicine and Public Health.
The Back ache It may go unnoticed by many patients, however, these are characteristic symptoms spondyloarthritisa condition of autoimmune disease, which affects the spine and joints The large size of the human body.
To learn more about this disease, Dr. Amaryles Pérez de Jesus, rheumatologist and board member of the Foundation for Rheumatic Diseases (FER), explained to Revista Medicina y Salud Pública the main characteristics and sign of illness of patients, in addition to the diagnostic process and treatment alternatives to prevent the development of spondyloarthritis.
This is a less common case of arthritis Psoriasis, but it falls into the group of conditions known as spondyloarthropathies. “It occurs more commonly in young adults, who can start to develop the disease at the age of 20. The hallmark is the patient who complains of it. Back achein the sacroiliac region, we identify it, but what the patient says is that he has pain in the lower back,” he explained.
Moreover, he confirmed that Back ache It gets worse in the morning and gets better during the day Back ache Which gets worse with the patient’s physical activity.
In the young man who wakes up with him Back ache “That stiffness can last up to 30 minutes,” he added in the morning. “We can only injure the spine or arthritis marginal, ie they have ignition in areas jointssuch as hands, feet, etc.”, specify.
On the other hand, he stated that spondyloarthritis It is also diagnosed in women, although it does not occur very often. “I want to point out that it is a condition that also appears in women and may not be as common because it has not been diagnosed to the same extent in women, as it has often been managed similarly to conditions such as fibromyalgia, since the image can be confused in the area of pain or enthesitis
“If we see it in females, it’s not that common, but today we identify it more than in years past,” he added.
To reach a diagnosis spondyloarthritisspecialists take into account the physical examination of the patient sign of illnessHistory and screening tests.
“We have an associated gene, HLAP27, so it is a condition that has a genetic contribution. I saw a patient last week who started reading about it. Back achehe is 37 years old, he is a young patient, he asked his primary doctor for a HLAP27 test, the result came back positive, and he told me he was infected spondyloarthritisHowever, we made the diagnosis through history, physical examination and other findings,” Dr. Amaryllis recounted.
Although the cause of this condition is unknown, the specialist stresses that it is important to take into account the patient’s history and previous evaluations. “As part of the patient assessment, we can find pain in the sacroiliac joint area, and we can have enthesitis, which is pain when the ligaments join the bone, as we see in arthritis Psoriasis”.
In this regard, he explained that in diagnostic tests they test for HLAP27, which is histocompatibility antigen and in most cases spondyloarthritis The result will be positive, as in the patient you treated.
They also test for ignitionX-rays, especially of the sacroiliac region, and in many cases, if they are negative, they resort to MRI, which already identifies patients who are at an early stage, since no radiographic changes are observed, but the patient does the current sign of illness.
“Once we establish the diagnosis, we move on to treating the patient. It is important to note that if the patient does not receive treatment spondyloarthritis Your spine can fuse and you lose functional ability that affects your daily life. Our goal as rheumatologists is to manage this patient to prevent them from accessing those damages because once we have the damage it is permanent,” the rheumatologist emphasized.
For this, early treatment is necessary, as in any rheumatic condition. Currently, there are various alternatives to Treatments How:
Today we have a group of Treatments which are more complex as we will try to prevent or reduce the presence of these inflammatory substances. We have interleukin inhibitors with which, depending on the stage, we start treatment and patients usually respond well and their quality of life can be normal in their case,” stressed Dr. Perez.
Finally, he highlighted the importance of physiotherapy for patients, to help patients joints It has good mobility and performs the function in the organism, avoiding its deterioration.
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