Disease pattern of spondyloarthropathies in Spain: description of the first national registry (REGISPONSER) extended report.

OBJECTIVE: The national registry of spondyloarthropathies (REGISPONSER) is launched to classify patients with this group of diseases treated in Spanish rheumatology clinics. This manuscript describes the methodological and organizational background as well as characteristics of patients finally included, and provides a comparative analysis between characteristics of both ankylosing spondylitis and undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy groups of patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twelve members of the GRESSER group have participated in the registry, for a one-year recruitment period. All consecutively registered adult patients treated in their clinics met the classification criteria of the European Spondyloarthropathies Study Group (ESSG). Data collected reflect the socio-demographic characteristics, as well as disease activity and functional status, clinical form at onset, treatment used and quality of life; all measured by standard instruments. RESULTS: Throughout 1 yr, 1385 patients have been included in the registry: 939 males (68%) and 440 females (32%), with an average age of 47 +/- 13 years (mean +/- s.d.), and an average disease duration of 12 +/- 9 years. Diagnoses of the included patients were: AS (n = 842, 61%), PsA (n = 290, 21%), u-SpA (n = 205, 15%), reactive arthritis (n = 16, 1.2%), inflammatory bowel disease arthritis (n = 13, 0.9%) and JCA-spondyloathropathy (n = 13, 0.9%). Regarding clinical form, 54% had axial disease, 20% peripheral disease, 24% mixed disease and 0.6% isolated enthesitic form. Low-back pain was the first symptom reported in 53% of the patients, and most common extra-articular disease manifestations were psoriasis (25%), anterior uveitis (16%) and intestinal inflammatory disease (4%). Some kind of work disability was reported by 353 patients (25.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Such databases are very useful to obtain information about characteristics of SpA patients treated in a certain location or following a specific treatment practice, and provide a tool for assessing the impact of the disease. Data collected in this registry provide an appropriate clinical and demographic profile of patients suffering from SpA in Spain.

Delayed examination of synovial fluid by ordinary and polarised light microscopy to detect and identify crystals.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the reliability of a delay in the microscopic examination of synovial fluid (SF) to detect and identify crystals. METHODS: Ninety one SF samples were examined, 31 with monosodium urate (MSU) crystals, 30 with crystals of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD), and 30 containing no crystals. The specimens were stored with EDTA, sodium heparin, and without anticoagulant at 4 degrees C before examination at 24 and 72 hours with ordinary and polarised light microscopy. Another aliquot of the same samples was stored in a plastic container without anticoagulant at -80 degrees C and examined after two months. RESULTS: When the samples stored at 4 degrees C were re-examined after 24 hours, intracellular crystals of MSU were seen in 90/93 (97%) cases where they had been identified previously and 89/93 (96%) cases after 72 hours. Similarly, CPPD crystals were identified in 90/90 (100%) and 87/90 (97%) cases after 24 and 72 hours. Examination of the samples stored at -80 degrees C showed intracellular MSU crystals in 25/31 (81%) of cases and CPPD crystals in 25/30 (83%). No crystals were seen in any sample which had previously been diagnosed as crystal-free. CONCLUSIONS: Deferred microscopic examination of refrigerated or deep frozen SF provides a strong probability of detecting MSU or CPPD crystals if these are present initially.

Comparison of aceclofenac with piroxicam in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

A multicentre, double-blind, randomised, parallel group study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy and safety of aceclofenac (123 patients, 100 mg twice daily) in comparison to piroxicam (117 patients, 20 mg once daily and placebo once daily) in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. The treatment period of two months was preceded by a washout period of one week duration. On completion of the study, patients in both aceclofenac and piroxicam-treated groups exhibited significant improvement in pain intensity and functional capacity of the affected knee, as represented by the Osteoarthritis Severity Index (OSI) (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.001 respectively). This was further substantiated following the patient's assessment of pain intensity using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), in which significant improvements were demonstrated at all time points for each treatment group (p < 0.001). Although both treatment groups showed a significant improvement in all investigator's clinical assessments (functional exploration of the knee, knee flexion and extension (EXT)), there were no significant differences between the groups. There was, however, a more rapid improvement in knee flexion in the aceclofenac group after 15 days of treatment. Both aceclofenac and piroxicam were well tolerated by patients, the most commonly reported adverse events being gastrointestinal, although their incidence was low. Only 24 patients on aceclofenac, as opposed to 33 on piroxicam complained of dyspepsia, epigastralgia and pyrosis. While 7 patients in each group were withdrawn because of adverse events, only one patient with piroxicam was withdrawn because of severe upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Twice as many reports of fecal blood loss were made in the piroxicam group in comparison to the aceclofenac group. In summary, this study confirms the therapeutic efficacy of aceclofenac and suggests that it is a well-tolerated alternative NSAID to piroxicam in the treatment of osteoarthritis.

Acute calcific periarthritis of the fingers.

Two cases of acute calcific periarthritis of the fingers are described and some controversial clinical aspects of the syndrome discussed.

C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

CRP levels in 194 serum samples from 43 SLE patients were measured. Patients with inactive disease have levels below 10 micrograms/ml; patients with active SLE have higher levels, but never over 50 micrograms/ml. In the presence of infection or inflammatory processes, regardless of the activity of SLE, the levels are significantly higher (p less than 0.05), and well over 50 micrograms/ml. Both active SLE patients and inactive SLE patients with local infections have levels between 10 micrograms/ml and 50 micrograms/ml. In this situation, the presence of anti-DNA antibodies strongly suggests disease activity (82% versus 9%, p less than 0.05). The clinical and physiopathological meaning of these findings is discussed.