Destructive Dural Ectasia of Dorsal and Lumbar Spine with Cauda Equina Syndrome in a Patient with Ankylosing Spondylitis

We present a patient with longstanding ankylosing spondylitis complicated with cauda equina syndrome. The patient suffered from increasing pain in the leg with reduced sensitivity and extremely cold feet associated with incontinence. Diagnostic workup revealed dural ectasia, arachnoiditis and a spinal inflammatory mass leading to extensive vertebral bone destruction. Of interest, this was not only found in the lumbar spine region (which is typical in cases of cauda equina syndrome associated with ankylosing spondylitis) but also in the lower cervical spine (C7) and upper dorsal spine. Moreover, the bone destructive phenotype of this complication of long-standing AS contrasts with the usual characteristics of new bone formation and ankylosis. As initial treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs was not sufficiently successful, infliximab therapy was started which resulted in manifest clinical improvement as chronic pain, incontinence and laboratory signs of inflammation progressively disappeared

Crowned dens syndrome: a neurologist's perspective

Crowned dens syndrome is an under-recognized entity that can mimic neurological disease, in particular meningitis or giant-cell arteritis. We present a 48-year-old woman presenting with an inflammatory meningitis-like syndrome with headache and neck stiffness. Lumbar puncture was normal and computed tomography (CT) of the atlantoaxial joint showed abnormal calcifications around the odontoid process, leading to a tentative diagnosis of crowned dens syndrome. In addition, signs of active inflammation in and around the dens were present on cervical MR imaging. Since CDS can mimic meningitis or giant-cell arteritis, neurologists should be aware of this entity. If CDS is suspected, the bone window on the head CT scan can lead to the diagnosis. On the other hand, asymptomatic periodontoid calcifications are common and should not preclude further investigations.status: publishe

L'échographie dans la pratique rhumatologique

Muskuloskeletal ultrasound has been incorporated by rheumatologist to the clinical practice over the past decade. The technical improvements of the devices allowed the production of high quality images contributing to better identification of joint inflammation and structural damage. In this review, we highlight the applications of ultrasound in the study of different rheumatic conditions.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

An EULAR study group pilot study on reliability of simple capillaroscopic definitions to describe capillary morphology in rheumatic diseases

Objective. To propose simple capillaroscopic definitions for interpretation of capillaroscopic morphologies and to assess inter-rater reliability. Methods. The simple definitions proposed were: normal-hairpin, tortuous or crossing; abnormal-not hairpin, not tortuous and not crossing; not evaluable-whenever rater undecided between normal and abnormal. Based upon an aimed kappa of 0.80 and default prevalences of normal (0.4), abnormal (0.4) and not evaluable (0.2) capillaries, 90 single capillaries were presented to three groups of raters: experienced independent raters, n = 5; attendees of the sixth EULAR capillaroscopy course, n = 34; novices after a 1-h course, n = 11. Inter-rater agreement was assessed by calculation of proportion of agreement and by kappa coefficients. Results. Mean kappa based on 90 capillaries was 0.47 (95% CI: 0.39, 0.54) for expert raters, 0.40 (95% CI: 0.36, 0.44) for attendees and 0.46 (95% CI: 0.41, 0.52) for novices, with overall agreements of 67% (95% CI: 63, 71), 63% (95% CI: 60, 65) and 67% (95% CI: 63, 70), respectively. Comparing only normal vs the combined groups of abnormal and not evaluable capillaries did increase the kappa: 0.51 (95% CI: 0.37, 0.65), 0.53 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.58) and 0.55 (95% CI: 0.49, 0.62). On the condition that the capillaries were classifiable, the mean kappa was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.50, 0.74) for expert raters (n = 65), 0.76 (95% CI: 0.69, 0.83) for attendees (n = 20) and 0.81 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.89) for novices (n = 44). Conclusion. This multicentre, international study showed moderate reliability of simple capillaroscopic definitions for describing morphology of capillaries by rheumatologists with varying levels of expertise. Novices were capable of distinguishing normal from abnormal capillaries by means of a 1-h training session. In future studies, the class not evaluable may be obsolete. © The Author 2015