Risk profiles for rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease in a cohort of patients with five-year follow-up.

Objectives: Early identification of interstitial lung disease (ILD) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a challenge for clinicians. The aim of this study was to evaluate screening algorithms for ILD by comparing the proportion of patients assigned a high-risk profile by three recently proposed models.

Method: We used the four-factor risk score, categorizing patients into high and low risk; the ILD screening criteria, categorizing patients into high, intermediate, and low risk; and the risk score for detection of subclinical RA-ILD, with four different risk categories, on patients with RA followed for 5 years after the RA diagnosis with pulmonary function tests, dyspnoea score, and pulmonary imaging.

Developing Cut-off Values for Low and Very Low Bone Mineral Density at the Thoracic Spine Using Quantitative Computed Tomography.

Osteoporosis is under-diagnosed while detectable by measuring bone mineral density (BMD) using quantitative computer tomography (QCT). Opportunistic screening for low BMD has previously been suggested using lumbar QCT. However, thoracic QCT also possesses this potential to develop upper and lower cut-off values for low thoracic BMD, corresponding to the current cut-offs for lumbar BMD.

Myocardial Blood Flow by Magnetic Resonance in Patients With Suspected Coronary Stenosis: Comparison to PET and Invasive Physiology.

Background: Despite recent guideline recommendations, quantitative perfusion (QP) estimates of myocardial blood flow from cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) have only been sparsely validated. Furthermore, the additional diagnostic value of utilizing QP in addition to the traditional visual expert interpretation of stress-perfusion CMR remains unknown. The aim was to investigate the correlation between myocardial blood flow measurements estimated by CMR, positron emission tomography, and invasive coronary thermodilution.

Two-year MRI-defined structural damage and patient-reported outcomes following surgery or exercise for meniscal tears in young adults.

Objective: To investigate potential differences in structural knee joint damage assessed by MRI and patient-reported outcomes (PROMs) at 2-year follow-up between young adults randomised to early surgery or exercise and education with optional delayed surgery for a meniscal tear.

Methods: A secondary analysis of a multicentre randomised controlled trial including 121 patients (18-40 years) with an MRI-verified meniscal tear. For this study, only patients with 2-year follow-up were included.

Implementation of ultrasound-guided carpal tunnel release.

Introduction: Ultra-minimally invasive ultrasound-guided carpal tunnel release is a surgical procedure for treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome that is associated with less surgery-related morbidity and faster recovery than open surgery. The objectives of this study were to describe how the surgical technique may be acquired and to report the results obtained after implementation in a clinical setting.

Methods: The study consisted of two parts: 1) description of the surgical skills needed to perform the procedure, and 2) evaluation of the procedure in the first ten consecutively operated patients after 12-month follow-up using questionnaires and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).