[Vascular wall lesion and disorder of endothelial vasoregulating function in patients with ankylosing spondylitis].

Diseases accompanied by endothelial lesion are associated with elevation of mortality. Nowadays, data on endothelial dysfunction in ankylosis spondylitis (AS) are practically absent, while the disease creates "favorable" conditions for endothelial lesion and the development of endothelial dysfunction. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the degree of lesion of the endothelium and vascular wall vasoregulating function in patients with AS. The subjects of the study were 36 AS patients (mean age 36.4 +/- 1.38 years). Exclusion criteria were clinical manifestations of coronary artery disease, arterial hypertension, and other comorbidities during exacerbation period. Signs of vascular wall lesion in a form of an increase in the number of circulating endothelial cells were detected in AS patients. The study revealed disorder of the vasoregulating function of the endothelium in AS patients. Reactive hyperemia test revealed disorder in brachial artery sensitivity to tension in the patients vs. healthy controls. The study demonstrated associations between these disturbances and such factors as system inflammation (fibrinogen), smoking intensity, external respiration disorder, parameters of left ventricular remodeling, and right ventricular diastolic dysfunction.