Synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis detected by grey scale ultrasound predicts the development of erosions over the next three years.

Objectives: To evaluate grey scale US (GSUS) and power Doppler US synovitis (PDUS), separately or in combination (CombUS), to predict joint damage progression in RA.

Methods: In this cohort study nested in the Swiss RA register, all patients with sequential hand radiographs at their first US assessment were included. We analysed the summations of semi-quantitative GSUS, PDUS and CombUS assessments of both wrists and 16 finger joints (maximum 54 points) at their upper limit of normal, their 50th, 75th or 87.

Behçet's syndrome: clinical presentation and prevalence in Switzerland.

Objective: Behçet's syndrome is a rare systemic autoimmune/autoinflammatory disease affecting mucocutaneous tissues, the skin and the eyes, as well as the joints, the central nervous system, the gastrointestinal tract and blood vessels. Because of the lack of clinical data in Switzerland, the aims of this cohort study were to calculate the disease prevalence and to analyse the disease manifestations and the immune-suppressive medication.

Methods: Data were extracted from 52 patient charts.

Hypothesis-free analyses from a large psoriatic arthritis cohort support merger to consolidated peripheral arthritis definition without subtyping.

Current ClASsification criteria for Psoriatic ARthritis classification criteria for psoriatic arthritis (PsA) provide a preliminary definition of inflammatory articular disease. This study aimed to further characterize PsA peripheral arthritis using purely data-driven approaches for the affected joint distribution pattern. PsA patients from the Swiss Clinical Quality Management in Rheumatic Diseases (SCQM) database were clustered according to similarities in 66 swollen and in 68 tender joints.

Outcome and quality of life in patients treated for abdominal aortic aneurysms: a single center experience.

Background: Durability of protection and long-term quality of life (QoL) are critical outcome parameters of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair. The aim of the present study was to compare results of endovascular and open aneurysm repair (EVAR and OR) with adjusted standard populations, including stratification for urgency of presentation.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of 401 consecutive patients presenting with AAA between January 1998 and December 2002.

Does malperfusion syndrome affect early and mid-term outcome in patients suffering from acute type A aortic dissection?

It is well known that malperfusion syndrome (MPS) increases early mortality of patients suffering from acute type A aortic dissection (AADA). The aim of the present study was to analyze the outcome of patients who survived after surgical treatment of AADA with or without MPS. Data of 227 consecutive patients, who underwent surgery for AADA, were analyzed.