Imaging News

SAN DIEGO — Imaging and symptom rating scales offer physicians ample opportunity to follow patients with suspected myositis and “tease out” fast vs. slow progressors, noted a speaker at the 2023 Congress of Clinical Rheumatology West.

MRI and PET scans are viable alternatives to ultrasound for cranial arteries in patients with suspected giant cell arteritis, according to a 2023 update of EULAR’s recommendations for imaging in large vessel vasculitis.

As many as 41% of patients who are 1 year postpartum meet the ASAS criteria for sacroiliitis, which could lead to false positive diagnoses of axial spondyloarthritis, according to data published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

Methotrexate use at the pre-arthritis stage of symptoms and subclinical inflammation fails to prevent clinical arthritis, but does improve symptoms and MRI-detected inflammation vs. placebo, according to data published in The Lancet.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Persistent, chronic inflammation seen in moderate to severe psoriasis is associated with plaque destabilization and rupture that drives MI, and biologic treatment can reduce CV risk, according to a speaker.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Many patients with non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis experience symptoms for nearly a decade before receiving a diagnosis, according to a presenter at the 2022 Rheumatology Nurses Society Conference.

In patients with early psoriatic arthritis who are naïve to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, swollen joints are a better predictor of synovitis than tender joints, according to data published in Rheumatology Advances in Practice.

Biopsy details, including the operator’s training and any intra-articular steroids used prior to the procedure, should be reported in every study involving synovial tissue, according to new EULAR points to consider.

Physical function and MRI scores predict flares at 6 and 12 months following the end of treatment with abatacept among patients with early rheumatoid arthritis in remission, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

Tenosynovitis detected through power Doppler ultrasound predicts rheumatoid and inflammatory arthritis development in patients with clinically suspect arthralgia, according to data published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.