"Ankylosing spondylitis" without sacroiliitis in a woman without the HLA B27 antigen

An elderly woman with otherwise typical ankylosing spondylitis for 45 years lacked radiologic evidence of sacroiliitis and the HLA B27 antigen. The illness was complicated by renal tuberculosis requiring a left nephrectomy 23 years after the onset of low back pain, and 20 years after an episode of severe iritis. After the eradication of the tuberculosis by surgery and chemotherapy, she has continued to have symptomatic spondylitis. The case seems to be an exception to the rule that sacroiliitis is a sine qua non for ankylosing spondylitis. Women with ankylosing spondylitis tend to have milder disease with an apparently lower frequency of roentgenographic changes in sacroiliac joints.