Association of heterogeneity of the thyroid gland with matrix metalloproteinase-3 in rheumatoid arthritis patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Background: Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is highly prevalent in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim is to determine their relation, focusing on matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), a marker predicting joint destruction and RA activity.

Methods: Fifty-three consecutive RA patients were prospectively separated into two groups based on the presence or absence of HT; those with and without TPO-Ab or Tg-Ab (34.

Thyroid heterogeneity, as indicated by the CV of ultrasonographic intensities, correlates with anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies in euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Objective: To prospectively evaluate the heterogeneous appearance of the thyroid gland, reflecting inflammation and destruction in euthyroid Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), we investigated the clinical utilities of the heterogeneity index (HI) [the coefficient of variance (CV) of the ultrasonographic (US) intensities], focusing on anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO-Ab), which represent not only disease activity but also subsequent thyroid destruction of HT.

Methods: Forty-four consecutive patients with euthyroid HT [60.5 ± 2.