A controlled study of sacroiliitis in Behcet's disease

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of sacroiliitis in a group of patients with Behcet's disease (BD). Pelvic X-rays of 27 patients with ED responding to the International Study Group of ED and 30 controls(15 AS and 15 sciatica) were read blind and sacroiliac involvement was graded according to the New York criteria. In a second step, patients or controls with equivocal sacroiliitis had a sacroiliac CT scan. Two patients with ED (7.4%) and all patients with AS had evident bilateral sacroiliitis (at least grade 2). One patient with ED and two patients with sciatica had equivocal sacroiliitis (grade I). CT confirmed sacroiliitis in the two patients with ED and eliminated inflammatory sacroiliitis in the three other patients with equivocal sacroiliitis showing mild degenerative lesions. A review of the literature showed that sacroiliitis and AS are rarely associated with ED. There remains insufficient evidence to suggest that sacroiliitis is an intrinsic feature of ED and that ED belongs to the group of SpA.