Background/Purpose: Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous disease, which can involve different organs and systems. Coexistence of sarcoidosis and spondyloarthritis has been reported in numerous case reports. Purpose: To determine the prevalance of sacroiliitis and spondyloarthritis in patients previously diagnosed with sarcoidosis, and to investigate any possible relation with clinical findings.

Methods: Forty-two patients with sarcoidosis were enrolled in the study. Any signs and symptoms in regard to spondyloarthritis (i.e. existence of inflammatory back pain, gluteal pain, uveitis, enthesitis, dactylitis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis) were questioned in details and biochemical tests were evaluated. Sacroiliac joint imaging and lateral heel imaging were performed in all patients. The existence of active sacroiliitis was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging of sacroiliac joint with short time inversion recovery (STIR) method.

Results: Sacroiliitis was found in 6 of the 42 (14.3%) sarcoidosis patients and all of these patients were female. The average age of the patients with sacroiliitis was 55 years, while the average duration of the disease was 17.8 months. Common features of the disease in these six patients were inflammatory back pain as the major clinical complaint, stage 2 sacroiliitis as revealed by radiological staging and the negativity of HLA B-27 test.These six patients with sacroiliitis were diagnosed as spondyloarthritis according to the criteria of ASAS and of ESSG.

Conclusion: We found spondyloarthritis in patients with sarcoidosis at a higher percentage rate than in the general population(1-1.9%). Controlled trials involving large series of patients are required for the confirmation of the data.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-prevalence-of-sacroiliitis-and-spondyloarthritis-in-patients-with-sarcoidosis/