Spinal Osteophytosis

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) is a poorly understood, systemic condition characterized by progressive calcification and ossification of ligaments and entheses. The current classification criteria allow diagnosing the disease in its late course, when significant bony overgrowth already involves the vertebral column and the appendicular skeleton. The research of the pathogenic mechanisms in DISH, is significantly hampered by the late diagnosis resulting from this definition.Based on recent MRI studies in both axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and in DISH, it seems that changes similar to the classical early inflammatory changes described in axSpA, can be detected in patients with DISH. We therefore hypothesize, that patients with metabolic syndrome without radiographic evidence for spinal DISH, might exhibit early MRI changes. If this hypothesis proves to be correct, early diagnosis and research of the possible pathogenetic mechanisms at this early stage might be very rewarding in investigations of the early aberrations of the entheses homeostasis and eventually early, more targeted therapeutic interventions. The study will examine MRI changes in patients, in their 5th decade of life, with high risk for the development of DISH (ie diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome) compared with patients who don't have this risk.