What is axial SpA?

What is axial SpA?

Axial Spondyloarthritis – also known as axSpA or axial SpA – is a painful, chronic arthritis that mainly affects the joints of the spine. It can also affect other joints in the body, as well as tendons and ligaments.

What does non-Radiographic mean?

“Non-radiographic” means the disease causes symptoms, but there’s no visible damage on X-rays, the way there is with a related type of inflammatory arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis (more on that below). “Axial” refers to joints that the disease primarily affects: the spine, chest, and hip bone.

What is non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis NR-axSpA )?

Non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, or nr-axSpA (pronounced N-R-Ax-Spa), is a chronic inflammatory condition. It’s characterized by active inflammation of the spine and sacroiliac (SI) joints, which are the joints that connect the lower spine and pelvis.

Is axial spondyloarthritis the same as ankylosing spondylitis?

To clear things up, Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) is actually the same as Axial Spondyloarthritis (AxSpA), but only one of the 2 subgroups of AxSpA. AS is known as radiographic AxSpA, whereas the other subgroup is known as non-radiographic.

How is axial SpA diagnosed?

How Axial Spondyloarthritis Is Diagnosed. There’s no “gold standard” feature for diagnosing axSpA. It’s diagnosed through a combination of patient history, physical examination, blood tests (both for HLA-B27 and for markers of inflammation, such as C-reactive protein), and imaging tests, such as X-ray and MRI.

What does axial pain mean?

Axial pain. Also called mechanical pain, axial pain is confined to one spot or region. It may be described a number of ways, such as sharp or dull, comes and goes, constant, or throbbing. A muscle strain is a common cause of axial back pain as are facet joints and annular tears in discs.

How many people have non radiographic axial spondyloarthritis?

How many people are affected by nr-axSpA? It is estimated that at as many as 3.3 million adults in the U.S. have axSpA.

What are seronegative Spondyloarthropathies?

Seronegative spondyloarthropathies are a family of joint disorders that classically include ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) associated arthritis, reactive arthritis (formerly Reiter syndrome; ReA), and undifferentiated SpA.

How serious is axial spondyloarthritis?

Axial Spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic, inflammatory rheumatic disease that affects the axial skeleton, causing severe pain, stiffness and fatigue. The disease typically starts in early adulthood, a critical period in terms of education and beginning a career path.

What causes axSpA?

The disease can be more common in certain families. For example, a person’s risk of developing axSpA increases if a first-degree relative (parent, sibling, or child) has axSpA. The presence of a gene called human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B27 also increases the risk of developing axSpA.

What is non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis ( Nr-axSpA )?

Non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA) and Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are two sub-types of the condition axial spondyloarthritis. In nr-axSpA, the sacroiliac (SI) joints do not show “definitive” damage on plain x-rays, as seen in AS. That brings up the question of what is meant by “definitive damage on x-rays of SI joints?”

What kind of back pain is axial SpA?

Axial Spondyloarthritis (axial SpA) is an inflammatory arthritis where the main symptom is back pain Axial spondyloarthritis is an umbrella term and it includes:

Are there female patients with NR-axSpA?

Patients with nr-axSpA, who seem to have fewer signs of inflammation in comparison to established AS, may represent axSpA in its early disease stages and may develop structural changes and AS in the near future; however, female patients, especially, may never develop such changes 14.

Can a negative MRI be used to diagnose nraxspa?

The clinical diagnosis should be based on the composite of clinical symptoms and signs of the disease, HLA B27 status, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of sacroiliac joints. Notably, a negative MRI or HLA B27 does not exclude the diagnosis in patients with a high clinical suspicion for nrAxSpA.