Doppler sonographic evaluation of effect of treatment with infliximab (Remicade) for rheumatoid arthritis.

Synovial vascularization in the knee joints of six patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were treated with infliximab was evaluated by Doppler sonography. Power Doppler sonography demonstrated a significant reduction of color flow signals (P < 0.05), and spectral Doppler sonography demonstrated a significant increase in vascular resistance (P < 0.

Doppler sonographic analysis of synovial vascularization in knee joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis: increased color flow signals and reduced vascular resistance.

Synovial vascularization was analyzed by power Doppler and spectral Doppler sonography in 42 knee joints of 28 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The synovial vessels with greater intensity of color flow signals demonstrated significantly lower indicators of vascular resistance - resistive index (P < 0.01) and pulsatility index (P < 0.

Doppler sonographic comparative study on usefulness of synovial vascularity between knee and metacarpophalangeal joints for evaluation of articular inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated by infliximab.

We used Doppler sonography to evaluate the therapeutic effects of infliximab on the knee and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints of 10 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), based on the color flow signals (CFS) and resistance index (RI) of synovial vascularity. After three injections of infliximab, we observed significant improvement in numbers of tender joints (P < 0.01), values of C-reactive protein (CRP) (P < 0.

Serum amyloid A (SAA) concentration varies among rheumatoid arthritis patients estimated by SAA/CRP ratio.

Background: C reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) are similarly sensitive indicators of inflammation, but discrepancies are recognized in several disease conditions. SAA levels are generally higher and vary more among individuals. The significance of the SAA/CRP ratio was evaluated in the estimation of SAA.