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Diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis
Differential Diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis
The signs and symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) may overlap with those caused by other underlying conditions and must be considered in the differential diagnosis. Some of the other conditions that may produce signs and symptoms that mimic ankylosing spondylitis include:
Other spondyloarthropathies
- Reiter's syndrome
- Enteropathic arthritis
- Psoriatic arthritis
- Undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy
Rheumatic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis
- Herniated intervetebral disk (spinal symptoms only with no systemic complications)
- Tuberculous spondylitis
- Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) - a form of degenerative arthritis characterized by excessive bone growth along the sides of the vertebrae of the spine and inflammation at the junction where the tendons or ligaments attach to the bone
As mentioned above, the determining marker for ankylosing spondylitis is radiographic evidence of bilateral sacroiliitis of Grade II or greater, OR, unilateral Grade III sacroiliitis.
