Nervous system involvement in ankylosing spondylitis.

In a review of 45 patients with ankylosing spondylitis 10 had neurological symptoms and signs and three of them had two separate neuropathological disorders. The neurological profiles fell into five main categories-multiple sclerosis, the cauda equina syndrome, focal epilepsy, vertebrobasilar insufficiency, and peripheral nerve lesions. An association between ankylosing spondylitis and multiple sclerosis is suggested, possibly due to an immunological defect or to one being a complication of the other.