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The coexistence of ankylosing spondylitis and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis—a postmortem diagnosis

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Abstract

A 72-year-old male was diagnosed as having ankylosing spondylitis, mainly according to radiological findings, confirmed as HLA-B27-negative. Postmortem examination of the skeleton raised doubts on the initial diagnosis, since spinal findings pointed out also to diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis. The authors discuss the differential diagnosis and enhance the postmortem findings which allowed the diagnosis of the two clinical entities in the same patient.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dra. Monica Cos to help us in the interpretation of the radiological images, and Eng. Carlos M. Sá (CEMUP-UP) for the use of the SEM-XRM equipment and for his expertise. X Jordana is a Post-doctoral Fellow of the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal. Funding ref.: SFRH/BPD/26683/2006.

Conflict of interest

X Jordana, I Galtés, AR Couto, L Gales, M Damas, M Lima, J Bruges-Armas have no disclosures or conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre in Natural Resources (CIRN) and Department of Biology, Universidade dos Açores, S. Miguel, Azores, Portugal

    Xavier Jordana & Manuela Lima

  2. Grup de Recerca en Osteobiografia (GROB), Unitat d’Antropologia Biològica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Xavier Jordana & Ignasi Galtés

  3. Serviço Especializado de Epidemiologia e Biologia Molecular (SEEBMO), Hospital Santo Espírito, 9700 Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Azores, Portugal

    Ana Rita Couto & Jácome Bruges-Armas

  4. Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Ana Rita Couto, Luís Gales, Margarida Damas & Jácome Bruges-Armas

  5. Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Luís Gales & Margarida Damas

Authors
  1. Xavier Jordana
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  2. Ignasi Galtés
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  3. Ana Rita Couto
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  4. Luís Gales
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  5. Margarida Damas
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  6. Manuela Lima
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  7. Jácome Bruges-Armas
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jácome Bruges-Armas.

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Jordana, X., Galtés, I., Couto, A.R. et al. The coexistence of ankylosing spondylitis and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis—a postmortem diagnosis. Clin Rheumatol 28, 353–356 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-008-1068-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-008-1068-9

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