Magnetic Resonance Imaging–Detected Features of Inflammation and Erosions in Symptom‐Free Persons From the General Population

Abstract

MRI-detected inflammation and erosions are prevalent in symptom-free persons from the general population, especially at older ages and at preferential locations.

Baseline MRI bone erosion predicts the subsequent radiographic progression in early rheumatoid arthritis patients who achieved sustained good clinical response

“…Thus, the limited sample size did not allow for a more precise investigation and analysis. Close association of MRI bone edema and bone erosion has been proved since these two bone changes often co-localize into the same bone [16,38]. In the present study, radiographic progression was found in only five patients from 24 subjects.…”

Obesity and rates of clinical remission and low MRI inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis

“…MRI does, however, provide an objective measure of inflammatory joint disease, a key and defining feature of RA. While very low levels of synovitis or osteitis may be common and non-specific,20 our use of validated cut-off scores that identify an informative degree of inflammatory disease is an advance over previous literature. Residual confounding by unmeasured factors is also possible in this observational study, although adjustment for baseline demographics, race, CCP antibody positivity and baseline disease activity did not substantially impact the results.…”

Back to the future: forget ultrasound and focus on clinical assessment in rheumatoid arthritis management

“…It has been known since more than a decade that >10% of the joints of healthy individuals are PD-positive; it has recently been shown that 88% of 207 healthy subjects presented at least one joint with US abnormal findings: signs of SE in 52% of them, presence of SH in 48% (with or without PD positivity); in 64 subjects, SH was associated with SE and in eight cases with PD 16. Erosions can also be found in healthy subjects,16 a finding that has been recently corroborated by MRI 17. Given the fact that single US abnormalities may not represent pathological findings, it is the combination of different pieces of information such as the age of the patient, the grade of detected abnormality and the number of joints affected that may be more useful in the interpretation of the significance of US appearances.…”