Spondyloarthritis: What do we need to know?

Abstract

There has been a paradigm shift in our understanding of Spondyloarthritis in the last 3-4 decades. In the past, late diagnosis, based on radiological findings, resulted in unfavourable outcomes. Another impediment was classifying the disease into 7 sub-groups, further delaying the diagnosis and treatment. Early diagnosis has now become a reality with the introduction of MRI in the diagnostic armamentarium. It has also been realised that it is better to classify the disease as predominantly axial and predominantly peripheral than into 7 different sub-groups as treatment protocols depend more on manifestation ( axial vs. peripheral) than on nosological sub-division. The changed paradigm has resulted in better outcomes for the sufferers.