Walking Instability in a Patient with Known Neuro-Behçet's Disease.

A 53-year-old man with known history of Neuro-Behçet>s Disease (NBD) presented to the Emergency Department with numbness on the left side of the body and the face. The patient was admitted to the Neurological Department and after a thorough investigation, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)of the brain revealed a lesion on the brainstem (rhombencephalitis). The case is presented due to rarity of the clinical picture and the good outcome. The therapeutic strategy and the modification of his medication is discussed.

Multicenter Cross-sectional Study of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Greece: Results from a cohort of 2.491 patients.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the current disease characteristics, treatment and comorbidities of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Greece. METHODS: Multicenter, cross-sectional study with a 9-month recruitment period between 2015 and 2016. Demographics, disease characteristics, treatment and comorbidities were collected via a web-based platform. RESULTS: 2.491 RA patients were recruited: 96% from tertiary referral centers, 79% were females with a mean age of 63.1 years and disease duration of 9.9 years. Fifty-two percent were rheumatoid factor and/or anti-CCP positive, while 41% had erosive disease. Regarding treatment, 82% were on conventional synthetic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (csDMARDs), 42% on biologic DMARDs (TNFi: 22%, non-TNFi: 20%) and 40% on corticosteroids (mean daily dose: 5.2 mg). Despite therapy, 36% of patients had moderate and 12% high disease activity. The most frequent comorbidities were hypertension (42%), hyperlipidemia (33%), osteoporosis (29%), diabetes mellitus (15%) and depression (12%). Latent tuberculosis infection (positive tuberculin skin test or interferon gamma release assay) was diagnosed in 13 and 15.3% of patients, respectively. Regarding chronic viral infections, 6.2% had history of herpes zoster while 2% and 0.7% had chronic hepatitis B and C virus infection, respectively. A history of serious infection was documented in 9.6%. Only 36% and 52% of the participants had ever been vaccinated against pneumococcus and influenza virus, respectively. CONCLUSION: This is one of the largest epidemiologic studies providing valuable data regarding the current RA characteristics in Greece. Half of patients were seropositive but despite therapy, half displayed residual disease activity, while preventive vaccination was limited.

Bone Single Photon Emission/Computed Tomography in the Detection of Sacroiliitis in Seronegative Spondyloarthritis: A Comparison with Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

OBJECTIVE: Seronegative spondyloarthritis (SpA) is characterized by chronic inflammation affecting the axial skeleton, entheses and occasionally peripheral joints. The involvement of the sacroiliac joints, sacroiliitis, is considered as a pathognomonic radiographic finding. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the method of choice for its early detection. Bone scintigraphy (BS) is characterized by high sensitivity in the diagnosis of bone and articular diseases. Limited value of BS in the diagnosis of sacroiliitis may be attributed to the use of planar imaging. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of SPECT in SpA, compared to MRI. METHODS: Forty-three patients suffering from inflammatory back pain underwent MRI evaluation of the sacroiliac joints and BS, combined with SPECT in the same region, for the assessment of sacroiliitis. RESULTS: Bone SPECT revealed no findings of sacroiliitis in 11 patients, with total agreement with MRI. Findings of chronic lesions were demonstrated from both modalities in 2 patients. Bone SPECT and MRI findings were in concordance regarding the investigation of active sacroiliitis, with the exception of one patient with mild SPECT findings and negative MRI examination; the diagnosis of AS however, was established one year later, after a positive follow-up MRI. The evaluation of the planar imaging of the whole skeleton and SPECT imaging, revealed additional lesions. CONCLUSION: Bone SPECT is a reliable imaging method in the diagnosis of active sacroiliitis. Its application on planar BS, an economic and widely available diagnostic technique, appears to be a valuable aid for the clinician.

Prevalence of Raynaud's phenomenon in young Greek males.

The aim of this paper is to study the prevalence of Raynaud's phenomenon in young males. Young males were examined prospectively in a district hospital, and laboratory tests were performed on the basis of the clinical history. Young males (3.912), age 18-28 years old, were examined. Raynaud's phenomenon was present in seven men (1,79 per 1.000, 95% CI 0.72-3.68). Three of them had at least one member in their family diagnosed with Raynaud's phenomenon. Three were smokers. All had negative immunological test. Five patients reported having severe attacks and two had only mild ischemic attacks. The treatment was conservative for all patients, two of them necessitated vasodilators. Very low prevalence of Raynaud's phenomenon was observed in this young male group compared with the previous studies.

The history of the Hellenic Society for Rheumatology and the League against Rheumatism. From ancient world to the modern era.

The history of the Greek rheumatology from ancient world to the modern era. Emphasis is given to the contribution of the Greek vocabulary to rheumatologic terminology.

Reintroduction of cow's milk in milk-allergic children: safety and risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Although development of clinical tolerance is the rule in allergy to cow's milk (CM), food challenges are required in order to reintroduce CM into the patient's diet. Less 'invasive' procedures able to predict tolerance would be useful as clinical tools. The purpose of this study was to identify potential risk factors for clinical reactivity in CM-allergic children assessed for CM reintroduction. METHODS: One hundred and sixteen open challenges performed in children 10-47 months old with IgE-mediated allergy to CM, in order to reintroduce CM into the diet, were retrospectively evaluated. Specific IgE (sIgE) levels assessed by the CAP System FEIA and skin prick tests (SPT) were obtained at diagnosis and prechallenge. Demographic parameters and measures of sIgE were evaluated as potential predictors of a positive challenge in univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: Twenty-four out of 116 challenges were positive, 9 of which required the use of adrenaline. In order of performance, prechallenge sIgE <3.94 kU/l, the combination of SPT and sIgE or an SPT wheal <4 mm could correctly predict a negative challenge outcome, whereas values of SPT >7.5 mm or sIgE >25.4 kU/l, or their combination, had a high positive predictive value. The presence of atopic dermatitis did not affect the predictive accuracy of these values. CONCLUSIONS: Milk sIgE level prechallenge is a useful predictor of challenge outcome in patients with milk allergy. SPT do not offer an additional predictive value, but can be used when sIgE is not available.

An assessment of back pain and the prevalence of sacroiliitis in sarcoidosis.

OBJECTIVES: Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous multisystem disease in which arthritis is relatively common. Arthritis of the sacroiliac joints (sacroiliitis) has been described in sarcoidosis but is thought to be rare. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of sacroiliitis in a secondary-care population of patients with sarcoidosis. METHODS: Patients attending a specialist secondary-care sarcoidosis clinic underwent evaluation of spinal symptoms using a standard back pain questionnaire, examination of spinal mobility, and laboratory measurements of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, serum angiotensin-converting enzyme, and neopterin/creatinine ratio. Tissue typing for the presence of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27 allele was undertaken. Radiographs of the sacroiliac joints were obtained in each patient and reviewed independently by two observers; a further observer reviewed disputed radiographs. RESULTS: Sixty-one patients completed the assessments (80.3% of all patients invited to participate). Forty-nine of 61 patients (80.3%) reported having back pain at some point in their lives. Thirty-one of 61 patients (50.8%) had a score on the back pain questionnaire suggestive of inflammatory spinal disease, but only 3 of these patients had erosive damage of the sacroiliac joints on radiography indicating sacroiliitis. One further patient had erosive damage on radiography, making a total of four individuals with evidence of sacroiliitis, a prevalence of 6.6%. Four patients (one patient with sacroiliitis) were positive for HLA-B27. The back pain questionnaire had a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 51% for sacroiliitis in this population. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of spondyloarthropathy in the normal population has been estimated to be 1.9%. In the sarcoid population studied the prevalence was 6.6% suggesting a possible association between these two conditions. The standard back pain questionnaire for the identification of inflammatory spinal disease had a low sensitivity and specificity in this population.

The hand X-ray in rheumatology.

X-ray of the hands is the most valuable imaging modality in rheumatology. Joint disease may be identified by individual features such as joint space narrowing, erosions, new bone formation, subluxation and deformity, which may be diagnostic. In diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis presence of erosions on hand X-ray give a valuable measure of disease progression and response to therapy.