Researchers in Bath offer new hope for patients with ankylosing spondylitis
Researchers in Bath are setting up a major clinical trial of a painful form of arthritis which they hope could lead to better treatment for sufferers.
Around 100,000 people in the UK are estimated to have ankylosing spondylitis (AS), an inflammatory type of arthritis also known as "poker back" which affects mainly young men, and causes severe pain and stiffening of the spine. Well-known sufferers include former cricketer Mike Atherton, and comedian Lee Hurst.
The condition is frequently misdiagnosed and treatment is largely ineffective.
But now a research team based at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases in Bath - a leading UK centre into research and treatment of AS - is to run a three-year clinical trial to test the effectiveness of a drug called a bisphosphonate currently used to treat the bone thinning condition, osteoporosis.
The team, led by consultant rheumatologist Dr Ashok Bhalla, and funded by a grant of £244, 000 from medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign (arc), plan to recruit up to 180 AS patients, mainly from the Bath and Bristol area.
"Current standard treatment of AS is anti-inflammatory drugs, but these only help to control pain, they don't reduce the rate of disease progression," explained Dr Bhalla.
"Patients with AS also have reduced bone density of the spine and hip and are at an increased risk of vertebral fracture. Previous studies have shown that symptoms have improved in AS patients who take a drug similar to the one we plan to test, so if we can come up with a cheap, not particularly toxic drug with minimal side-effects that also slows down disease progression and improves symptoms, that would be great news for patients."
Patients will be split into two groups, one group taking the bisphosphonate, the other taking a placebo for two years. At the end of two years their disease activity will be measured, and bone density and spinal deformity assessed by x-rays.
The RNHRD is the only national referral centre for patients with AS, and runs intensive 14-day in-patient exercise programmes for sufferers. The Arthritis Research Campaign is currently pumping several million pounds into AS research in centres around the UK.
