New study to assess whether painkillers make axial spondyloarthritis harder to detect

A new study is being launched in the UK to determine whether people with axial spondyloarthritis are being misdiagnosed because of thepainkillers they are using. The University of Aberdeen study, funded byArthritis Research UK, will examine how big a role patients' medication plays in slowing down the diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis, and to establish whether new approaches to treating and diagnosing the disease are needed. How painkillers may mask the signs of axial spondyloarthritis Axial spondyloarthritis is an inflammatory arthritic condition affecting around 700,000 people in the UK. It afflicts the spine and joints in the pelvis and, in extreme cases, can lead to parts of the spine fusing together. Many people manage thepain the disease causes with anti-inflammatorydrugs, such as ibuprofen, while they wait to have the condition formally diagnosed by a rheumatologist, but concerns are emerging that these drugs are reducing the inflammation to the point where the symptoms become hidden. This means that subsequent MRI scans to diagnose the condition are incorrectly coming back negative, resulting in a situation in which it typically takes between eight and 11 years properly identify this disease. How the study will work In this new study, 250 patients with axial spondyloarthritis will be recruited from around 20 different centres and asked to stop taking their regular anti-inflammatory drugs for a week before receiving an MRI scan. They will then start taking the d...
Source: Arthritis Research UK - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: news