Destructive hip lesions in seronegative spondyloarthropathies: relation to gut inflammation.

In the seronegative spondyloarthropathies the hip lesions can be subdivided into a concentric type progressing to ankylosis and an eccentric type leading to joint destruction. Radiologic examination of the hips was performed in 177 of 211 patients suffering from seronegative spondyloarthropathies on whom ileocolonoscopy with biopsies of ileum and colon was performed; in 27 of these 177 patients, hip lesions were demonstrated. The concentric form seems to be radiologically, clinically and genetically more related to axial involvement; moreover, the frequency of subclinical gut inflammation was the same as in the group of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) without peripheral arthritis, and thus significantly lower than in patients with AS with peripheral arthritis. Eccentric, destructive hip lesions seem to be unrelated to axial involvement, but they are associated with the presence of HLA-Bw62 and gut inflammation (100%), mainly of the chronic, Crohn disease-like type.