Remission in ankylosing spondylitis

Remission is a major goal of medical therapy in chronic disease. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease that affects the axial skeleton and other body structures, causing pain, stiffness, functional loss, and disability. Until recently only symptomatic therapies were available, and control was poor in patients with severe disease. However, the TNF antagonists have now changed this substantially. The concept of disease remission in AS has not received much attention in the current literature. There exists one set of partial remission criteria formally developed by the ASsessments in Ankylosing Spondylitis (ASAS) working group on the basis of clinical trials with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for use in clinical trials. Furthermore, a state of low disease activity has been defined empirically in studies of anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapy to describe clinically relevant treatment efficacy. As more effective therapies become available for AS, disease remission is increasingly regarded as an appropriate therapeutic goal that may then be translated into modification of progressive structural damage. There is a need to further define and evaluate current proposals concerning remission in AS. © Copyright Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology 2006.