ANKYLOSING SPONDYLITIS AND THE SPONDYLOARTHROPATHIES


Spondyloarthritis and its main characteristic disease, ankylosing spondylitis (AS), finally have received the attention of the medical and rheumatologic community in a major way. Long isolated in the backwaters of academic research and pharmaceutical industries, and largely relegated to descriptive concepts, they have become key players in the fast- and forward-thinking lanes of genetic, environmental, and pathogenetic links. It was our feeling that these new ideas needed to be presented and documented, and that belief was the genesis behind the current volume.
The chapters that follow address historical concepts and the evolution of the terminology used for these diseases, the epidemiology of AS and related conditions, clinical features, childhood forms of the disease,
and treatment considerations. The editors have supplied critical and up-to-date chapters on the pathogenesis and genetics of AS (or pathogenetics), in addition to information about outcome measures now commonly used in clinical trials and in the clinic. Furthermore, we have brought imaging for AS and related diseases into the twenty-first century; imaging issues and considerations for early diagnosis are addressed in this volume. The impact of AS and spondyloarthritis on society in general and on the patient in particular is prominently displayed.
It is clear that AS and related diseases will become hot topics of research and therapeutic interest. We hope that this volume will provide a foundation for that effort. 

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