title: The treatment of ankylosing spondylitis.
abstract: Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory disorder affecting the axial skeleton and periphery. Symptoms can often be debilitating. Current therapy for the disease include physical therapy, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS, anti-rheumatic disease modifying drugs (DMARDS), and the newly developed biologic agents targeting tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). This paper will provide a comprehensive review of these treatments which focusing on evidence based medicine for the daily clinical practice of rheumatology.
authors.affiliation: Division of Rheumatology, The University of California San Francisco, 533 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0633, Room U383, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Scalapino
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004164:Diphosphonates / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077268:Pamidronate; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000628:therapy*; D013792:Thalidomide / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D004164:Diphosphonates; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D013792:Thalidomide; D000077268:Pamidronate