Acne-associated spondylarthropathy: radiographic features

Abstract

Experience with six patients with severe acne and associated axial and peripheral arthritis is described. Four of the patients had a dermatologic triad of severe acne, hidradenitis suppurativa, and dissecting cellulitis of the scalp, the so-called follicular occlusion triad. All were black men with episodic peripheral arthropathy and low back pain. One had inflammatory bowel disease. Rheumatoid factor and HLA-B27 were absent in five patients who had these determinations. An erosive and proliferative arthritis of the axial and appendicular skeleton is described. The radiographic findings were indistinguishable from those of the seronegative spondylarthropathies. We found no previous reports in the radiologic literature describing this articulocutaneous entity.