Your Article Summary
See Latest ArticlesUltrasonographic evaluation of joint involvement in early rheumatoid arthritis in clinical remission: Power Doppler signal predicts short-term relapse
Rheumatology, 07/01/09
Scirè CA et al. – In a cohort of early RA patients treated with conventional DMARDs, ultrasonographic-grey scale (US-GS) can detect residual disease activity more sensitively than clinical examination both in active disease and in remission. Moreover, power Doppler (PD)-positive synovial hypertrophy identifies an ongoing inflammation even during remission and predicts short-term relapse.
Methods- Aim was to evaluate the usefulness of a systematic musculoskeletal US assessment in detection of residual disease activity in pts with early RA who achieved clinical remission
- 106 early RA pts receiving conventional DMARDs according to DAS-steered therapeutic protocol over a 24-mo period
- Standard evaluation included clinical, laboratory, functional and systematic (44 joints) US assessment
- US indexes of GS and PD synovitis were correlated with clinical evaluation, laboratory indexes and clinical outcome
- Clinical remission was defined when DAS was <1.6 at 2 consecutive visits 3 mo apart
- US examination was more sensitive than clinical examination, both in active disease and in remission
- In pts with an active disease, both clinical and US indexes correlated with CRP, whereas in remission only PD still remained correlated
- In clinical remission, 95% of pts showed residual GS synovitis, and 41% of them showed a positive PD signal
- Positive PD signal, even in a single joint, resulted the main predictor of relapse within 6 mo
Related Articles
Treatment of early RA with infliximab is beneficial
American Pharmacists Association, 11/06/09
Relevance Score: 82%
Positive anti-citrullinated protein antibody status and small joint arthritis are consistent predictors of chronic disease in patients with very early arthritis: results from the NOR-VEAC cohort
Arthritis Research & Therapy, 10/02/09
Relevance Score: 82%
Pain in arthritis
European Journal of Pain, 11/17/09
Relevance Score: 81%
Treatment of Very Early Rheumatoid Arthritis With Symptomatic Therapy, Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs, or Biologic Agents. A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Annals of Internal Medicine, 11/05/09
Relevance Score: 81%
Articular ultrasonography in rheumatoid arthritis
International Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, 10/16/09
Relevance Score: 81%
Today in Rheumatoid Arthritis...keeping you current
Receive free subspecialty "5-minute updates" via email
Comparison of autoinflammation and autoimmunity using TRAPS and rheumatoid arthritis as prototypes of these conditions
International Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, 12/04/09
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy: A national estimate of frequency in systemic lupus erythematosus and other rheumatic diseases
Arthritis & Rheumatism, 12/03/09
CTLA4-Ig interacts with cultured synovial macrophages from rheumatoid arthritis patients and downregulates cytokine production
Arthritis Research & Therapy, 11/25/09