Assessment of Therapy Efficacy by Synovial Elastometry Data in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis is a widespread disease in general population, which can progress to the permanent disability as in a short-time as in long-time periods. It was considered that estimated changes of the joints' morphology in patients suffering on rheumatoid arthritis may depend on the basic treatment received and, eventually, on the control over rheumatoid arthritis progression achieved. The aim of our work is to study the accuracy of using elastometry method in evaluating the severity of knee joints' synovitis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and its dependence on received basic treatment and achieved control over rheumatoid arthritis progression. By using a correlation analysis, we found a close relationship between the stiffness of the synovial membrane of the knee joints and the level of C-reactive protein (r = 0.63, p = 0.022), as well as with the level of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (r = 0.66, p = 0.019) in all groups of patients at the time of inclusion to the study. This relationship was present even after 6 months of therapy (r = 0.61, p = 0.043) and (r = 0.59, p = 0.023), respectively. Performed correlation analysis also showed the dependence of the morning joints' stiffness severity with the synovial membrane stiffness indicators (r = 0.57, p = 0.018), with the severity of pain in the knee joints (calculated by using The Visual Analogue Scale) and with the severity of knee joint synovial membrane stiffness (r = 0.56, p = 0,024) at the time of inclusion. So, it was considered a presence of relationship between synovial stiffness and clinical manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis. This relationship was present even after 6 months of therapy (r = 0.57, p = 0.038) and (r = 0.63, p = 0.024), respectively. The obtained results clearly demonstrate the accuracy of evaluating the knee joints' synovial stiffness by using elastometric indicators in assessing the effectiveness of received basic treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.