[Cutaneous nodular lesions and antiphospholipid syndrome]. / Nodules cutanés douloureux et syndrome des antiphospholipides.

BACKGROUND: Antiphospholipid antibodies are a group of autoimmune antibodies directed against a broad panel of phospholipids and their cofactors. Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome is defined by the presence of a hypercoagulable clinical state associated with antiphospholipid antibodies. We report a case with very unusual cutaneous nodular lesions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A 37-year-old man presented with painful recurrent cutaneous lesions of the nape of the neck. The lesions appeared four years earlier and regressed with oral prednisone. The previous year, cerebral ischaemia revealed antiphospholipid syndrome and anticoagulant therapy was initiated. The patient's cerebral ischaemia was successfully treated but the skin lesions recurred in spite of good anticoagulation therapy. The nodules were strictly confined to the back of the neck. Histopathological examination of a nodular lesion from this patient revealed dilated arterioles and venules with luminal blockage due to fibrinoid thrombosis consistent with the thrombotic microangiopathy seen in antiphospholipid syndrome. DISCUSSION: We describe a case of primary antiphospholipid syndrome with cutaneous lesions as the initial sign of the disease. These "Sweet-like" lesions have been described only once in the literature. Therapeutic strategy in the event of failure of anticoagulants is not well codified.

Clinical, radiological, and laboratory findings in Lebanese spondylarthropathy patients according to HLA-B27 status.

UNLABELLED: To evaluate clinical, radiologic, and laboratory features in Lebanese spondylarthropathy patients according to HLA-B27 status. METHODS: We retrospectively compared demographic, clinical, radiologic, and severity data in 40 HLA-B27-positive and 58 HLA-B27-negative patients. All 98 patients met Amor's or European Spondylarthropathy Study Group criteria for spondylarthropathy, and 51.7% met New York modified criteria for ankylosing spondylitis. RESULTS: Onset before 16 years of age, hip involvement, and an elevated mean erythrocyte sedimentation rate were significantly associated with the presence of the HLA-B27 (32.5 vs 13.8%, P=0.02; 45 vs 7.5%, P=0.001; and 47.7 vs 25.4, P=0.02; respectively). The two groups were comparable for age, sex ratio, prevalence and distribution of spondylarthropathy types, family history, sacroiliitis, bamboo spine, syndesmophytes, peripheral joint involvement, enthesopathies, extra-articular involvement, response to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and need for other medications. CONCLUSION: In Lebanon, spondylarthropathy patients positive for HLA-B27 experience disease onset at an earlier age, are more likely to develop hip involvement, and have laboratory evidence of more severe inflammation than their HLA-B27-negative counterparts. None of the other clinical and radiologic parameters are modified by HLA-B27 status.

Validation of the European Spondylarthropathy Study Group and B. Amor criteria for spondylarthropathies in Lebanon.

OBJECTIVES: 1) To validate European Spondylarthropathy Study Group (ESSG) and B. Amor's criteria for spondylarthropathies in Lebanon. 2) To evaluate the frequency of spondylarthropathies in rheumatological practice in Lebanon. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Cases of definite and probable spondylarthropathy were diagnosed based on the clinical judgement of participating rheumatologists, without reference to the two criteria sets under study. The first two patients without spondylarthropathy seen after each spondylarthropathy case were included into the control group. Criteria in the ESSG and B. Amor sets were looked for in the patient and control groups. The frequency of spondylarthropathy meeting each criteria set was determined. RESULTS: Of the 841 patients evaluated during the study period, 68 met B. Amor's criteria and 72 met ESSG criteria. There were 29 cases of ankylosing spondylitis (40.3%), ten of peripheral psoriatic arthritis (13.8%), two of reactive arthritis (2.8%), two of enteropathic arthropathy (2.8%), and 29 of undifferentiated spondylarthropathy (40.3%). In the definite spondylarthropathy group, sensitivity and specificity were 77.19% and 97.55% for B. Amor's criteria versus 91.23% and 100% for ESSG criteria. The frequency of spondylarthropathy was 8.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.3-9.9) or 8.56% (CI 6.6-10.5) according to B. Amor and ESSG criteria, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our data validate both criteria sets in the Lebanese population, demonstrating that they are useful in populations that are genetically different from the European populations used to develop them. Spondyloarthropathy is the most common in our rheumatology practice.