Clinical application of D-penicillamine in ankylosing spondylitis: a 9-month study.

The lack of effective therapy of ankylosing spondylitis is a reason to search a better kind of treatment. Trials to use D-penicillamine are scarce and usually limited to a short time of observation. We studied 49 patients with ankylosing spondylitis non-responding to classical therapy. Before and during treatment periodically complex clinical and laboratory tests were performed. During 9 months of therapy a significant decrease of score and involvement of vertebral column movement measured by several tests were observed. No side effects of treatment were found during this period. It is probably partly connected with the dosage of D-penicillamine which was used. It should be underlined that during 9 months of therapy, no relapse was observed in any case. The efficacy of D-penicillamine therapy was found not only in the peripheral form of ankylosing spondylitis but also in central one. However, the therapy was more effective in the former. It seems that D-penicillamine may be an effective and safe drug in the therapy of ankylosing spondylitis.