Development of a feasible and responsive ultrasound inflammation score for rheumatoid arthritis through a data-driven approach.

Objective: To develop and validate a responsive and feasible ultrasound inflammation score for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: We used data from cohorts of early RA (development) and established RA starting/switching biologic therapy (validation). 4 tendons and 36 joints were examined by a grey scale (GSUS) and power Doppler semiquantitative ultrasound (PDUS) scoring system (full score).