Whole-body MRI for the investigation of joint involvement in inflammatory arthritis.

Objectives: This study aimed to develop a novel whole-body MRI protocol capable of assessing inflammatory arthritis at an early stage in multiple joints in one examination.

Materials And Methods: Forty-six patients with inflammatory joint symptoms and 9 healthy volunteers underwent whole-body MR imaging on a 3.0 T MRI scanner in this prospective study.

Musculoskeletal Manifestations of Non-RA Connective Tissue Diseases: Scleroderma, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Still's Disease, Dermatomyositis/Polymyositis, Sjögren's Syndrome, and Mixed Connective Tissue Disease.

The most common systemic rheumatologic conditions are connective tissue diseases (including rheumatoid arthritis [RA]) followed by spondyloarthropathy. With the advent of biotherapies and imaging biomarkers, development in the imaging of RA and spondyloarthropathies has received substantial attention in the literature. This article details the various musculoskeletal imaging features of the other connective tissue diseases such as scleroderma and progressive systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Still's disease, dermatomyositis and polymyositis, Sjögren's syndrome, and mixed connective tissue disease.

Conventional Radiology in Crystal Arthritis: Gout, Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition, and Basic Calcium Phosphate Crystals.

This article reviews the main radiographic features of crystal deposition diseases. Gout is linked to monosodium urate crystals. Classic radiographic features include subcutaneous tophi, large and well-circumscribed paraarticular bone erosions, and exuberant bone hyperostosis.

Anatomical and MR correlative study of the proximal sciatic nerve vasculature.

Objective: The aim of our study is to demonstrate that increased T signal on MRI could be due to intraneural vessels in asymptomatic individuals, and may therefore be a normal finding.

Methods: An initial anatomic cadaveric study was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the vascular supply of the proximal sciatic nerve. Secondly, a retrospective study of MR imaging of patients without sciatic symptoms was performed to assess the prevalence of intraneural vessels, defined as hyperintensity on at least three consecutive slices on both T and gadolinium enhanced T weighted imaging, visible on routine MSK pelvic imaging.

Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 1: Can biological markers predict alcohol withdrawal syndrome?

A short-cut review of the literature was carried out to establish whether biological markers (namely carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV)) could reliably predict patients at risk of developing alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Using the below outlined search method and after exclusion of the non-relevant papers, five papers were found to be relevant to the specific question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these are shown in table 1.