Abstract
PURPOSE: The study was performed to determine whether conventional and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters of a previously affected target joint in patients with clinically inactive juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) have prognostic meaning for a flare of joint inflammation during follow-up.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-two JIA patients with clinically inactive disease at the time of MRI of the knee were prospectively included. DCE-MRI provided both descriptive measures and time-intensity-curve shapes, representing functional properties of the synovium. Conventional MRI outcome measures included validated scores for synovial hypertrophy, bone marrow edema, cartilage lesions and bone erosions. During a 2-year period the patients were monitored by their pediatric rheumatologist and clinical flares were registered.
RESULTS: MRI analysis revealed synovial hypertrophy in 13 (39.4%) of the clinically inactive patients. Twelve patients (37.5%) had at least one flare during 2-year clinical follow-up. Persistently inactive and flaring patients differed significantly in the maximum enhancement of the synovium on the DCE-MRI (p<0.05), whereas no difference was found between these two groups in any of the baseline scores of conventional MRI.
CONCLUSIONS: Our prospective clinical follow-up study indicates that the assessment of 'maximum enhancement' upon DCE-MRI may be able to predict a clinical flare within 2 years in inactive JIA patients.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 77-81 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | European Journal of Radiology |
Volume | 88 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2017 |
Keywords
- Adolescent
- Arthritis, Juvenile/diagnostic imaging
- Contrast Media
- Female
- Follow-Up Studies
- Humans
- Image Enhancement/methods
- Knee Joint/diagnostic imaging
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods
- Male
- Predictive Value of Tests
- Prospective Studies