International Journal of General Medicine (Jan 2022)
Distribution of Acute and Chronic Lesions in the Sacroiliac Joints of Patients with Axial Spondyloarthritis
Abstract
Churong Lin,1,* Dong Liu,2,* Budian Liu,2 Jieruo Gu2 1Department of Radiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jieruo GuDepartment of Rheumatology and Immunology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 600 Tianhe Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: In this study, we aimed to investigate whether there was a pattern of distribution of acute and chronic lesions in the sacroiliac joints (SIJ) of patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA).Methods: A total of 96 patients diagnosed as axSpA were retrospectively included in this study. The Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada sacroiliac joint inflammation score (SIS) and structural score (SSS) were used to evaluate the acute and chronic lesions in the SIJs. Scores representing the distribution of bone marrow edema, fatty lesions and erosions were extracted respectively. By dividing the SIJs into sacral or iliac sections, upper or lower sections, anterior and posterior levels, differences of scores representing acute and chronic lesions were analyzed by Kruskal Wallis’ tests.Results: SIS scores were not significantly different in sacral or iliac sections, in upper or lower sections, on anterior or posterior levels. SSS scores were also not significantly different in different sections, except for higher occurrence rates of erosions in the iliac sections. Post-hoc analysis showed that there was a higher erosion score in the left ilium than left sacrum, as well as in right ilium than left sacrum.Conclusion: There was no specific distribution pattern of acute or chronic lesions in the SIJs in patients with axSpA. A bigger study sample was needed to confirm the distribution of erosions in sacral or iliac sections.Keywords: magnetic resonance imaging, axial spondyloarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, sacroiliac joint
