Pubic symphysis sclerosis in psoriatic arthritis. Case report

Pubic symphysis sclerosis is a very interesting event in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). PsA is a cronical arthritis, associated with psoriasis, classified with seronegative spondyloarthrities. There are 5 clinical PsA patterns: an oligoarticular pattern, characterized by asymmetrical involvement of metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal joints of hands and feet, as well as ankles and knees; a polyarticular pattern; a pattern characterized by involvement of distal interphalangeal joints; an arthritis mutilans pattern, characterized by acro-osteolysis of distal phalanxes; a pattern with spondylitic involvement. Although pubic involvement in PsA is not described in literature, a lot of authors describe the presence of erosive and/or sclerotic osteitis pubis in seronegative spondyloarthrities, without a more accurate subclassification. In seronegative spondyloarthrities sclerotic involvement of pubic symphysis has been described in patients suffering from ankylosing spondylitis for 5-10 years. A case of pubic symphysis sclerosis, evident on radiographs and detected also by magnetic resonance, which shows also a pattern of oedema and enhancement, with increased signal intensity on pubic symphysis in T2-weighted images, after the contrast agent was injected in the bone marrow, is reported in a woman affected by PsA. Pubic symphysis sclerosis is atypical in PsA and may be considered, by analogy with ankylosing spondylitis, the final result of repairing mechanisms of the previous erosive changes.