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Update on Axial Spondyloarthritis
Axial spondyloarthritis contributes to a patient’s significant physical pain and mental distress. Because it is an irreversible disability, it is important for physicians to understand how to diagnose it early in patients presenting with back chronic pain.
Learning Objectives:
Primary objective -to educate non-rheumatology HCPs about clinical features that suggest the presence of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and prompt consideration of referral to rheumatologist.
1. Develop awareness of axSpA as treatable cause of back pain,
2. Recognize an inflammatory back pain pattern as a typical presentation of axSpA,
3. Identify other common clinical features of axSpA that occur outside the spine,
4. Understand appropriate testing for a patient with chronic back pain suspected of axSpA and apply criteria for referral to rheumatology,
5. Gain knowledge of basic principles of diagnosis and treatment of axSpA
Mohamad Bittar, MD
Dr. Bittar earned his MD at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon. He then completed his Internal Medicine residency at Indiana University School of Medicine, followed by Rheumatology fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. Dr. Bittar is currently an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Connective Tissue Disease (Rheumatology) at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN. He also earned an MS degree in Epidemiology with a focus on Clinical Investigation. Dr. Bittar is a member of the Education Committee of SPARTAN (Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network). He has a special interest in Axial Spondyloarthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis
Mohamad Bittar, MD has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, re-selling or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.
