Enthesitis-related arthritis in children: A literature review of the clinical features and differential diagnosis

BACKGROUND: Enthesitis-related arthritis is one of the subtypes of juvenile idiopathic arthritis and is characterized by the involvement of the joints, enthesitis, and axial skeleton (sacroiliitis and spondylitis). The clinical variability of enthesitis-related arthritis and similar manifestations with orthopedic diseases present difficulties in diagnosis. AIM: To present the clinical features of enthesitis-related arthritis and issues of differential diagnosis based on literature analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A literature search was conducted in the open electronic databases of eLibrary, PubMed, and Cochrane Library. In total, 46 foreign and 4 Russian publications were analyzed, which were limited to 19812021. The keywords used in the literature search were as follows: enthesitis, enthesitis-related arthritis, juvenile spondyloarthritis, and SAPHO syndrome. Own archive data for instrumental investigations were used in the article. RESULTS: The clinical manifestations can be variable, and laboratory tests do not always allow us to prove the inflammatory nature of the pain syndrome. The most priority diagnostic tests were imaging methods, namely, magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography. The greatest diagnostic difficulty was found in patients in whom enthesitis prevailed over arthritis, and in some cases, it was the only disease manifestation. The classification criteria used for the diagnosis of EAA were considered. The differential diagnosis of enthesitis included various orthopedic diseases. Ultrasound diagnostics of joints and enthesis should be performed in every patient with local pain musculoskeletal symptoms, which allows patients to be correctly routed. CONCLUSIONS: The alertness of both orthopedists in relation to enthesitis-related arthritis and the awareness of rheumatologists of the most common orthopedic diseases that affect the entheses are necessary.