Identification of biomarkers in patients with rheumatoid arthritis responsive to DMARDs but with progressive bone erosion.

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that may cause joint destruction and disability. The pharmacological treatment of RA aims at obtaining disease remission by effectively ceasing joint inflammation and arresting progressive bone erosions. Some patients present bone lesions accrual even after controlling joint inflammation with current therapies.

Entheseal power Doppler ultrasonography: a comparison of psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Objective: To compare the power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS) pictures of peripheral entheses in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and fibromyalgia (FM).

Methods: Thirty patients with PsA and 30 with FM participating in a study aimed at identifying the clinical features that distinguish the 2 conditions underwent the PDUS assessment of 14 major peripheral entheses. All of the detected entheseal changes were recorded and scored, and the data were statistically analyzed by means of univariate analysis and receiver-operating characteristic curves.

Identification of the clinical features distinguishing psoriatic arthritis and fibromyalgia.

Objective: To identify the clinical features that can help to distinguish between psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and fibromyalgia (FM).

Methods: Our cross-sectional study was carried out in 10 Italian rheumatology centers between January and September 2009, and enrolled all consecutive patients with PsA and FM who agreed to participate. Standard clinical and laboratory data for PsA and FM were collected from all patients.