Joint Diseases and Related Surgery (JDRS), the official journal of the Turkish Joint Diseases Foundation, is an international, peer-reviewed, immediate open access journal. All published articles in JDRS has been free for everyone, without embargo, since 1990.

Joint Diseases and Related Surgery (JDRS), the official journal of the Turkish Joint Diseases Foundation, is an international, peer-reviewed, immediate open access journal. All published articles in JDRS has been free for everyone, without embargo, since 1990.

Background/aim: To define the frequency of familial Mediterranean fever gene (MEFV) mutations in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and describe different clinical aspects of MEFV mutation carrier and noncarrier AS patients. Materials and methods: In 112 AS patients, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) scores were calculated. The frequencies of 12 different MEFV mutations were studied by multiplex polymerase chain reaction/reverse hybridization method and were compared to those of previously studied healthy controls for 5 common MEFV mutations. Results: MEFV mutations were identified in 46 of 224 (20%) alleles and in 39 (35%) of AS patients. The distribution of mutations was: M694V, 30% (14); E148Q, 30% (14); P369S, 17% (8); V726A, 13% (6); A744S, 8% (4); and K695R, 2% (1). There were no significant differences between MEFV mutation carriers and noncarriers with respect to sex, age of symptom onset, disease duration, peripheral joint involvement, acute phase reactant levels, and BASDAI and BASFI scores (P > 0.05 all). MEFV mutation allelic frequency was not different between AS patients and healthy controls after adjusting for mutations studied (34/224 versus 22/200; P > 0.05). Conclusion: Although we did not find significant clinical and laboratory differences between MEFV mutation carrier and noncarrier AS patients, further investigations are needed to define the impact of MEFV mutations on AS disease course.

To evaluate the optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) findings in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Twenty-eight eyes of 28 patients with SLE and 27 eyes of 27 age and sex matched healthy controls were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The vessel densities in the macula and optic disc were evaluated using the OCT-A (Optovue, Inc., Freemont, CA). Foveal retinal thickness, retinal vascular density in superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus, and choriocapillaris, foveal avascular zone (FAZ), acircularity index, foveal vessel density (FD), and non-flow area in the superficial retina, the capillary and all-vessels density in the peripapillary area and the inside-disc area were automatically measured using Angiovue software of OCT-A and compared between the groups. The foveal, parafoveal and perifoveal retinal vessel densities in the superficial and deep capillary plexus and choriocapillaris were similar between groups. FAZ area, FAZ perimetry, acirculatory index, FD and non-flow area did not show a statistically significant difference. The vessel density in the inside disc area was significantly lower in patients with SLE (46.3 ± 3.8%) compared to the control group (49.1 ± 4.8%) (P = .02). Our results demonstrate significant decrement in vessel density in the inside-disc area in patients with SLE. The lower vessel density measurement in the inside-disc area might be associated with early neurologic vascular impairment in SLE. Further studies are required to determine the clinical relevance of this finding.

This study aims to investigate discriminatory ability of the Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index (SII), Systemic Inflammation Response Index (SIRI), and Neutrophil Percentage-to-Albumin Ratio (NPAR), in differentiating Behçet's Syndrome (BS) organ involvements from mucocutaneous involvement. This retrospective cohort study analyzed 436 patients diagnosed with BS from 2018 to 2023. Patients were categorized into three groups based on organ involvement: vascular, only mucocutaneous, and other organ involvement. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the discriminatory ability (mucocutaneous vs rest, vascular vs rest). DeLong's test was used to determine statistical differences in discriminatory power between the models. Out of 436, 115 patients had vascular involvement. SII, SIRI, and NPAR were notably elevated in the vascular involvement group (p < 0.001). ROC analysis revealed that, SII, SIRI and NPAR showed discriminative ability for vascular involvement with AUCs of 0.87 for SII, 0.87 for SIRI, and 0.88 for NPAR. Pairwise comparisons using DeLong's test indicated that all three models performed similarly. SII, SIRI, and NPAR are promising noninvasive biomarkers for predicting vascular involvement. These indices, derived from routine laboratory tests, could enhance early screening and may improve patient outcomes by enabling timely intervention.