Involvement of the inconstant bursa of the fifth metatarsophalangeal joint in psoriatic arthritis: a clinical and ultrasonographic study.

Objective: To evaluate the involvement of the bursa located next to the head of the 5th metatarsal bone in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in comparison with the other seronegative spondyloarthritis (SpA).

Methods: All patients with PsA seen during a period of 24 months were enrolled. The control group included healthy subjects and patients with the other SpA.

The evolution of adult-onset Still disease: an observational and comparative study in a cohort of 76 Italian patients.

Objectives: Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a potentially crippling or life-threatening rare disease that may be self-limited, intermittent, and chronic. Clinical predictors of outcome are still lacking, as is information on the rate of progress of its chronic course. The main objective is to identify factors that improve our ability to predict the course of AOSD, and factors associated with the rate of progress of its chronic course.

Clinical and radiologic evolution of synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis syndrome: a single center study of a cohort of 71 subjects.

Objective: To assess the basic features and outcomes of synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, and osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome.

Methods: We identified all patients seen in our unit between 1990 and 2008 diagnosed according to the proposed inclusion criteria with SAPHO syndrome, who had a followup of at least 2 years.

Results: Seventy-one patients (48 women, 23 men) with SAPHO syndrome were identified.

The role of conventional radiography and scintigraphy in the third millennium.

Imaging represents a cornerstone for diagnosing and monitoring rheumatic diseases. In the last few years, with the availability of highly effective therapies, demand for the technical performance of imaging has increased exponentially, leading to rapid development of new technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US). In both clinical practice and clinical trials, there is a need for tools that are sensitive to change and to therapy response, which are able to depict inflammatory changes early, before irreversible joint damage has occurred.