Pulmonary involvement in ankylosing spondylitis.

This is a prospective study analyzing 52 asymptomatic, consecutive patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), who submitted to a pulmonary investigation that included plain chest radiography, pulmonary function test (PFT), and thoracic high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). The results were compared according to sex, race, dorsal spine involvement, thoracic diameter, smoking status, and HLA-B27. There were four patients (8%) with an altered plain chest radiograph.