[Successful treatment with salazosulfapyridine in cases sister and brother with ankylosing spondylitis].

Cases of half sister and brother with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in whom drug therapy with salazosulfapyridine (SASP) showed excellent effect were reported. A 31 year-old female and her 28 year-old brother visited the out-patient clinic because of low back pain which lasted for the past 14 and 9 years, respectively. HLA examination revealed positive B27 antigen, X-ray and CT examination clarified sacroiliitis (grade III) in both patients. The diagnosis of AS was made and drug therapy with several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was started, but had little effects in both patients. After combination therapy with 2 g/day of SASP and 20 mg/day of tenoxicam, both clinical and laboratory abnormalities disappeared within a month. It is well known that AS has hereditary characteristic, nevertheless there were only a couple of case reports which showed familial occurrence of AS and there was no report showing the effectiveness of SASP for the drug therapy of AS in Japan. The patients reported here were the first cases with AS occurred in sister and brother in Japan. We emphasized SASP might be a drug which is useful for the treatment of AS.