[The lymphocyte transformation test with the bedsonian antigen (bedsonian LTT) in old and recent Fiessinger-Leroy-Reiter syndromes and in ankylsoing spondylarthritis. Additional study].

The lymphoblastic transformation test in the presence of bedsonian antigen was positive in 72 per cent of the cases confirmed Fiessinger-Leroy-Reiter syndrome, while it was negative in all the controls. This test remains positive over a long period since it was found to be positive in 69.75 per cent of old cases of FLR syndrome diagnosed 13-17 years previously. In cases of post-Reiter ankylosing spondylarthritis (ASp), the bedonian LTT was positive with equal frequency as in cases of FLR syndrome not complicated by ASp (68.4 per cent). On the other hand, in the cases of ASp without known history of FLR the test was positive much less frequently (17.7 per cent). There was no significant difference between the positivity rate of the bedsosian LTT in cases of pure axial ASp and in cases of ASP with peripheral lesions, neither in the group with post-Reiter ASp nor in the group with idiopathic ASp. In addition to its diagnostic value, this test is of great value in the epidemiological study of the group of rheumatic diseases that includes the FLR syndrome and ASp.