Journal of Gastrointestinal & Digestive System
Open Access

Abstract

Objectives: Despite a high prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in Han Chinese, the clinical experience is still very limited in the extra-articular presentation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A monocentric retrospective review was performed in Han Chinese patients, particularly in the usage of adalimumab (ADA). Methods: This study analyzed AS patients fulfilling the 1984 revised New York diagnostic criteria, excluding those who had the onset of IBD before or concurrently with the AS diagnosis, for their clinical and pathological data and medication profiles. Results: Among 988 AS patients with 19.8% female, 4 (0.4%) had the overt IBD presentation, one female and 3 male aged 28 to 47 years (38.8+4.6), all ulcerative colitis with the characteristic histopathological findings. At the onset of colitis, all had a long-term disease duration 10 to 25 year (17.5+6.5) and high BASDAI 7.5 to 8.8 (8.2+0.5) with the hip joint involvement. There were recurrent flares of colitis despite the treatment with corticosteroids and messalazopyrin/salazopyrin, and no relapses of IBD were observed for 6.0+1.1 years after the ADA therapy. Conclusion: In this monocentric study, we demonstrate the rarity of AS-associated IBD manifestation in Han Chinese with a beneficent effect from the ADA therapy.

Biography

Chrong-Reen Wang is a Rheumatologist at the National Cheng Kung University Hospital. He has received his MD degree from National Taiwan University in 1987, acquired the Lecture position at National Taiwan University Medical College in 1993. He has obtained his PhD degree from University of Tokyo (Basic Medical Sciences III) in 1999 and joined in American College of Rheumatology as a Fellow since 2008. He was promoted to the professor position at National Cheng Kung University Medical College in 2010.