Do tender joints in active psoriatic arthritis reflect inflammation assessed by ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging?

Objective: To investigate the association between clinical joint tenderness and intra- and periarticular inflammation as assessed by ultrasound and MRI in patients with active PsA and to explore if the associations differ according to patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and structural damage.

Methods: Forty-one patients with active PsA and hand involvement had 76/78 joints examined for swelling/tenderness and ultrasound and MRI of 24 and 12 finger joints, respectively. Synovitis, tenosynovitis, periarticular inflammation and erosions were assessed using OMERACT definitions and scoring systems.

Patient-controlled outpatient follow-up on demand for patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a 2-year randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Scheduled routine visits in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be in a stable period without active disease. Consequently, there is a demand for developing outpatient control procedures which cater to the needs of the individual patient.

Objective: This study aims to compare a patient-controlled outpatient follow-up system, Open Outpatient Clinic Programme (OOCP), with traditional scheduled routine follow-up (TSRF) regarding patient satisfaction and disease activity markers in RA patients.

Whole-body Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Psoriatic Arthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Healthy Controls: Interscan, Intrareader, and Interreader Agreement and Distribution of Lesions.

Objective: Whole-body MRI (WBMRI) is a promising technique for monitoring patients' global disease activity in inflammatory joint diseases. The validation of WBMRI is limited; no studies have evaluated the test-retest agreement (interscan agreement) and only a few have assessed the intra- and interreader agreement. Therefore, we first examined the interscan agreement of WBMRI in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and healthy controls (HC); and second, we evaluated the intra- and interreader agreement and agreement with conventional hand MRI and determined the distribution of lesions.

The OMERACT MRI in Enthesitis Initiative: Definitions of Key Pathologies, Suggested MRI Sequences, and a Novel Heel Enthesitis Scoring System.

Objective: To develop and validate an enthesitis magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scoring system for spondyloarthritis/psoriatic arthritis, using the heel as model.

Methods: Consensus definitions of key pathologies and 3 heel enthesitis multireader scoring exercises were done, separated by discussion, training, and calibration.

Results: Definitions for bone and soft tissue pathologies were agreed.

Whole-body Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Inflammatory Arthritis: Systematic Literature Review and First Steps Toward Standardization and an OMERACT Scoring System.

Objective: Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) is a relatively new technique that can enable assessment of the overall inflammatory status of people with arthritis, but standards for image acquisition, definitions of key pathologies, and a quantification system are required. Our aim was to perform a systematic literature review (SLR) and to develop consensus definitions of key pathologies, anatomical locations for assessment, a set of MRI sequences and imaging planes for the different body regions, and a preliminary scoring system for WB-MRI in inflammatory arthritis.

Methods: An SLR was initially performed, searching for WB-MRI studies in arthritis, osteoarthritis, spondyloarthritis, or enthesitis.

Imaging in Psoriatic Arthritis.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is an inflammatory joint disease characterized by arthritis and often enthesitis in patients with psoriasis, presenting a wide range of manifestations in various patterns. Imaging procedures are primarily conventional radiography, ultrasonography (US), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); other modalities such as computed tomography are not used routinely. Imaging is an integral part of management of PsA.

Magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosing, monitoring and prognostication in psoriatic arthritis.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic systemic, inflammatory disease associated with skin psoriasis. PsA may be difficult to assess with clinical examination and blood tests because of its complex and multifaceted clinical presentation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can visualise all peripheral and axial joints and entheses involved in PsA, and allow the rheumatologist to assess inflammation and structural damage in detail.

Head-to-toe whole-body MRI in psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis and healthy subjects: first steps towards global inflammation and damage scores of peripheral and axial joints.

Objectives: By whole-body MRI (WBMRI), we aimed to examine the frequency and distribution of inflammatory and structural lesions in PsA patients, SpA patients and healthy subjects (HSs), to introduce global WBMRI inflammation/damage scores, and to assess WBMRI's reproducibility and correlation with conventional MRI (convMRI).

Methods: WBMRI (3.0-T) of patients with peripheral PsA (n = 18) or axial SpA (n = 18) and of HS (n = 12) was examined for proportion of evaluable features (readability) and the presence and pattern of lesions in axial and peripheral joints.

Enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis and healthy subjects assessed by 'head-to-toe' whole-body MRI and clinical examination.

Objectives: To investigate the ability of whole-body MRI (WBMRI) to detect axial and peripheral enthesitis in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), and in healthy subjects (HS). Furthermore, to develop MRI enthesitis indices based on WBMRI and validate these by use of clinical measures of disease activity.

Methods: Prospective cross-sectional study of patients with PsA (n=18) and axSpA (n=18) with moderate to high disease activity, and HS (n=12).

No overall damage progression despite persistent inflammation in adalimumab-treated psoriatic arthritis patients: results from an investigator-initiated 48-week comparative magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography and radiography trial.

Objective: In a comparative conventional MRI, dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI, CT and radiography study, the authors aimed to monitor whether inflammation is reduced or even eliminated and damage halted in PsA patients receiving anti-TNF therapy.

Methods: A 48-week prospective open-label investigator-initiated trial of 41 biologic-naive patients treated with 40 mg adalimumab every other week. Hand CT, MRI (according to the PsA MRI scoring system method) and radiography (Sharp-van der Heijde method) were obtained at weeks 0, 6 (only MRI), 24 and 48.

Magnetic resonance imaging in psoriatic arthritis -- update on current status and future perspectives: a report from the GRAPPA 2010 annual meeting.

The potential of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for use in clinical practice and research has gained increasing interest over the last decade. International collaborative initiatives from GRAPPA (Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis) and/or OMERACT (Outcome Measures in Rheumatology) may contribute to facilitating research, identifying appropriate areas for use, and reaching consensus on the optimal examination technique. Accordingly, GRAPPA, a primary driver of international research in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), has focused on the current use and future development of MRI and other modern imaging modalities in PsA.

Magnetic resonance imaging in spondyloarthritis--how to quantify findings and measure response.

Sensitive and reliable tools for monitoring disease activity and damage, and for prognostication, are essential in the management of patients with spondyloarthritis, including ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows direct visualisation of inflammation in peripheral and axial joints, and peripheral and axial entheses, and has dramatically improved the possibilities for early diagnosis and objective monitoring of the disease process in spondyloarthritis. Truthful, discriminative and feasible scoring systems are available for the assessment of inflammatory activity in the spine and sacroiliac joints in axial spondyloarthritis and in the hands of patients with peripheral psoriatic arthritis.

A case of amlodipine overdose.

A case of severe amlodipine overdose with only mild symptoms is described. Plasma concentrations of amlodipine were measured in serial samples by gas chromatography. There was no concomitant overdose.