Work by BRITSpA investigators was presented at EULAR in Amsterdam earlier on this month.
This included an MRI consensus statement developed by a working party of UK based rheumatologists and musculoskeletal radiologists aimed to standardize an MR acquisition protocol and interpretation of images in the investigation of axial SpA. This consensus will help standardise practices and ensure prompt and effective patient management in the diagnosis and treatment of axSpA. Two abstracts were presented by Tim Bray, Alexis Jones from University College London and colleagues illustrating the recommendations and systemic literature review performed to inform the working party.
Mohammad Derakshan, BRITSpA fellow, presented new analysis on data from the international ASAS-COMOSPA collaboration. The first abstract reported on the higher prevalence of gastrointestinal co-morbidities, including increased risk of diverticulitis seen in association with longer disease duration of SpA, particularly in axial SpA. The second abstract described an association between time to diagnosis, but not disease duration being associated with quality of life, as assessed by the EQ-5D-3L index.
