Destructive lesions of small joints in seronegative spondylarthropathies: relation to gut inflammation.

Destructive lesions of small joints were found in 40 out of 211 patients suffering from seronegative spondylarthropathies (SpA) on whom ileocolonoscopy with biopsies of the ileum and colon were performed. The destructive lesions of small joints, radiologically only distinguishable from rheumatoid arthritis lesions by the pauciarticular and asymmetrical involvement, the rare tendency to fusion and the rare occurrence of periosteal hypertrophy, were observed more frequently in patients presenting subclinical inflammatory gut lesions, predominantly of the chronic type, than in patients without gut inflammation.