Efficacy of antibiotic therapy for SAPHO syndrome is lost after its discontinuation

Description: The acronym SAPHO was introduced in 1987 to unify the various descriptions of a seronegative arthritis associated with skin manifestations and to show synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis with and without sterile multifocal osteomyelitis. The etiology of SAPHO syndrome is unknown, an association with infection by semipathogenic bacteria like Propionibacterium acnes has been suggested. We conducted an interventional study of SAPHO patients receiving antibiotics.
Conclusions
For the period of application, the antibiotic therapy seems to have controlled the disease. After antibiotics discontinuation however, disease relapse was observed. SAPHO syndrome thus groups with other chronic inflammatory arthropathies with a need of permanent therapy.
Gunter Assmann , Olaf Kueck , Timm Kirchhoff , Herbert Rosenthal , Jan Voswinkel , Michael Pfreundschuh , Henning Zeidler and Annette D Wagner Arthritis Research & Therapy 2009, 11:R140 Full text available