Ankylosing spondylitis inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune disease affecting joints in the spine and the sacroilium in the pelvis, causing eventual fusion of the spine.
The typical patient is a young male with chronic pain and stiffness in the lower part of the spine or sometimes the entire spine.
Bamboo spine is the term give to appearance of the spine on xray as a result of fusion or ankylosis of vertebrae. The spine is completely ankylosed due to syndesmophytes, fused facet (apophyseal) joints, and paraspinal ligamentous calcification.
A 46 years old man presented to out patient department due to complaints of backache for past 4 months. There was no prior history of back pain or pain in any other joints. The xray picture looked liked this.
The presentation was atypical as patient had been asymptomatic till now. Xray of cervical spine and pelvis revealed fused spine and fused sacroiliac joints.
Patient was found to be positive for HLA B27. It is a diagnostic marker of the disease.
The patient was put on supportive therapy which included analgesics and physiotherapy.
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