A thorough guide for readers to quickly gain an update on standard diagnosis and treatment methods for axial spondyloarthritis. Approximately 80 illustrations and images are used throughout the text to exemplify the disease and diagnostic and treatment algorithms. Easily accessible text and tables review the current treatment recommendations and emerging treatment options based on recent clinical trials.

Joachim Sieper is a Consultant and Head of Rheumatology at the Charité University Hospital, Campus Benjamin Franklin in Berlin, Germany. He has been an investigator since 1989, and a principal investigator since 1993 on several placebo-controlled randomized trials, which have been published internationally. He has authored and contributed to over 300 journal papers. He is a member of numerous societies including the German Society of Rheumatology and the American College of Rheumatology. He has also been the recipient of many awards and honors for excellence in rheumatology, including the CarolNachman award for rheumatology in 2000 and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) award in 2003. Jürgen Braun is Medical Director of the Rheumatology Medical Centre, Ruhrgebiet in Herne, Germany and is a lecturer at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. He is also an honorary Professor in Rheumatology at the Charité Medical School in Berlin, Germany. Professor Braun has been the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Ankylosing Spondylitis Patients Association Award in 1996, the Tosse-Research Award in Pediatric Rheumatology in 1998, the Carol Nachman Research Award in 2000 and the EULAR prize in 2003. As one of the leading specialists in the field of the spondyloarthritides, Professor Braun has published more than 300 papers on different aspects of this subject. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Assessments in Ankylosing Spondylitis Working group and the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis.

Introduction.- Overview of axial spondyloarthritis.- Clinical manifestations of axial spondyloarthritis.- Diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis.- Imaging in axial spondyloarthritis.- Management of axial spondyloarthritis.