Background: This study aimed to assess the quantitative uptake of F-FDG PET-CT in the lungs of patients with early severe diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc) with and without interstitial lung disease (ILD), compared to controls. In patients with SSc-ILD, F-FDG uptake was correlated to high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and pulmonary function test (PFT) parameters.
Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted, involving 15 patients with SSc-ILD, 5 patients with SSc without ILD, and 7 controls without SSc.
Monitoring belimumab concentrations in patients can be a valuable tool for assessing treatment response and for personalizing drug doses. Various assay formats may be used to measure concentrations of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. A particularly useful format involves the use of anti-idiotype monoclonal antibodies, selected to be highly specific to the antibody of interest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To determine whether intercurrent infections are a risk factor for subsequent disease flares in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
Methods: Demographic and clinical characteristics of 203 patients with SLE participating in the Amsterdam SLE cohort were collected at baseline and during follow-up. Collection of data on infections and SLE flares was registry-based and infections and flares were categorised as minor or major, based on predefined criteria.
Objective: Current risk algorithms do not accurately predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). An area of interest is that of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), of which several have been associated with CVD in the general population. We investigated whether these SNPs are associated with CVD in RA and whether SNPs could improve CVD risk prediction in RA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Giant cell arteritis is an age-related vasculitis that mainly affects the aorta and its branches in individuals aged 50 years and older. Current options for diagnosis and treatment are scarce, highlighting the need to better understand its underlying pathogenesis. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have emerged as a powerful tool for unravelling the pathogenic mechanisms involved in complex diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Treat-to-target (T2T) is a therapeutic strategy currently being studied for its application in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Patients and rheumatologists have little support in making the best treatment decision in the context of a T2T strategy, thus, the use of information technology for systematically processing data and supporting information and knowledge may improve routine decision-making practices, helping to deliver value-based care.
Objective: To design and develop an online Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) tool "SLE-T2T", and test its usability for the implementation of a T2T strategy in the management of patients with SLE.
Background: Studies on long-term consequences of COVID-19, commonly referred to as post-COVID condition, in patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases are scarce and inconclusive. Furthermore, classifying patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases as having post-COVID condition is complicated because of overlapping symptoms. Therefore, we investigated the risk of post-COVID condition and time until recovery, and compared the prevalence of symptoms seen in post-COVID condition, between patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases and healthy controls, with and without a history of COVID-19.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) on immunosuppressants (ISPs) may have impaired long-term humoral immune responses and increased disease activity after SARS-CoV-2 infection. We aimed to investigate long-term humoral immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 and increased disease activity after a primary SARS-CoV-2 infection in unvaccinated IMID patients on ISPs.
Methods: IMID patients on active treatment with ISPs and controls (i.
Objectives: ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events. The aim was to assess traditional and disease-related CV risk determinants in a two-centre prospective cohort of AAV patients.
Methods: Patients were recruited from centres in the Netherlands and Canada.
For patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs), concerns exist about increased disease activity after vaccination. We aimed to assess changes in disease activity after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with IMIDs, and determine risk factors for increased disease activity. In this substudy of a prospective observational cohort study (Target-to-B!), we included patients with IMIDs who received a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging
April 2023
Purpose: To relate [F]fluoride uptake on PET with abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and conventional radiography (CR) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients.
Methods: Ten clinically active AS patients (female 6/10, age 38 ± 11 years) were included, and both spine and SI-joints were examined. PET scans were dichotomously scored for enhanced [F]fluoride uptake, MRI scans were scored for fatty lesions, erosions, ankylosis, and bone marrow edema (BME), and CR was scored for erosions, syndesmophytes, and ankylosis.
Background: Recurrence risk of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE) is unclear.
Aim: To determine the recurrence risk of SLE-associated VTE overall and by presence of provoking factors and SLE flares.
Methods: A multicenter, retrospective cohort study was conducted among patients with first SLE-associated VTE who discontinued anticoagulation.
Purpose: As bone formation is associated with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), positron emission tomography (PET) using a F-Fluoride tracer may enable sensitive detection of disease activity. Our primary aim was to determine the feasibility of whole-body F-sodium fluoride PET-CT in clinically active PsA patients to depict new bone formation (as a reflection of disease activity) at peripheral joints and entheses. Our secondary aim was to describe F-sodium fluoride findings in the axial skeleton.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To compare the cumulative incidence and disease severity of reported SARS-CoV-2 omicron breakthrough infections between patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMID) on immunosuppressants and controls, and to investigate determinants for breakthrough infections.
Methods: Data were used from an ongoing national prospective multicentre cohort study on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination responses in patients with IMID in the Netherlands (Target-to-B! (T2B!) study). Patients wih IMID on immunosuppressants and controls (patients with IMID not on immunosuppressants and healthy controls) who completed primary immunisation were included.
Lupus nephritis (LN) is a serious complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that occurs in about half of patients. LN is characterized by glomerular deposition of immune complexes, leading to subendothelial, mesangial and subepithelial electron dense deposits, triggering immune cell infiltration and glomerular as well as tubulointerstitial injury. Monocytes and macrophages are abundantly present in inflammatory lesions, both in glomeruli and the tubulointerstitium.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of treat-to-target combination therapy with intensification at 13 weeks in early RA.
Methods: Early RA patients were classified as being at high or low risk of worsening RA based on disease activity and prognostic factors. High-risk patients received COBRA-light (prednisolone 30 mg/day tapered to 7.
Interstitial lung disease is an overarching term for a wide range of disorders characterized by inflammation and/or fibrosis in the lungs. Most prevalent forms, among others, include idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and connective tissue disease associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD). Currently, only disease modifying treatment options are available for IPF and progressive fibrotic CTD-ILD, leading to reduction or stabilization in the rate of lung function decline at best.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPositron emission tomography (PET) is a promising technique to improve the assessment of systemic sclerosis associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD). This technique could be of particular value in patients with severe diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) that are possibly eligible for autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT). aHSCT is a potentially effective therapy for patients with severe dcSSc and ILD, leading to stabilization or improvement of lung function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the potential of whole-body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with a macrophage tracer to image arthritis in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Methods: Thirty-five previously untreated, clinically active patients with early RA underwent whole-body PET/CT scanning with the macrophage tracer ()-[C]PK11195 in addition to clinical assessment (Disease Activity Score in 44 joints [DAS44]). Tracer uptake was assessed quantitatively as standardized uptake values (SUVs).