Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic disease of connective tissue. It is characterized by symmetrical multiple joint involvement and extra-articular symptoms. Modern RA treatment methods place a particular emphasis on the earliest possible diagnosis and initiation of appropriate treatment. Currently, ultrasonography (US) is the key imaging test performed in RA patients. However, despite the general acknowledgement of its role in the assessment of disease activity, US was not included in the applicable ACR/EULAR criteria. This is due to the lack of strictly defined criteria for US evaluation and the interpretation of test results. In addition, the absence of a correlation between the common DAS/DAS28 disease activity score and ultrasound assessment of joints makes developing new diagnostic criteria difficult. The objective of this article is to review recent scientific reports on the use of ultrasonography in the diagnosis and monitoring of RA and to indicate current problems associated with the interpretation of test results and the comparison with applicable scores of disease activity.

Chronic inflammatory diseases often affect women of childbearing age. Since biologic and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs and tsDMARDs) are more available, their use during conception, pregnancy and lactation has become a matter of concern. Current studies prove the safety of innovative therapy in pregnant women and may contribute to its wider use than before in pregnancy and lactation. It mainly concerns tumour necrosis factor α (TNF-α) inhibitors. We searched PubMed using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and identified relevant studies and guidelines. We present up-to-date knowledge of bDMARDs and tsDMARDs safety in pregnant and breastfeeding women.

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Fluorescence spectroscopy is usually applied in physics, chemistry and related sciences. However, in recent years we can observe a growing interest in fluorescence spectroscopy for medical diagnostics. Currently, it is beginning to be used in the monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) activity. As the knowledge on RA increases, growing importance is being placed on the evaluation of synovitis. Today, it is difficult to imagine contemporary rheumatology without ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, it turns out that these are not the only methods allowing one to visualise subclinical lesions, particularly synovitis. Fluorescence optical imaging (FOI) is also useful for the evaluation of inflammatory lesions in the joints. In the future, FOI may become competitive with “traditional” imaging studies. It is characterised by low cost, short duration and similar sensitivity to US.

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