[Spinal involvement in chronic Reiter's syndrome]

From a retrospective analysis (1980-1984) we found 32 cases of chronic Reiter's syndrome with spinal involvement on the radiographs (as sacroiliitis, parasyndesmophytes, and rarely syndesmophytes). In these 32 case histories spinal pain was a rather frequent symptom, often beginning with the onset of the disease, whereas severe functional spinal impairment was seldom found. Joints were only mildly affected, organic symptoms were found chiefly in clinical history, but were often incomplete. Trigger infections were known in 40%, and 87% of the patients were HLA B27 positive. These 32 patients with mainly spinal symptoms represent 75% of all cases (n = 43) suffering from chronic Reiter's syndrome within the period of observation. Previous observations as well as our experience point to the fact that the chronic course of disease in Reiter's syndrome mainly affects the spinal structure with comparatively mild clinical symptoms.