Abstract
With powerful new therapies available for management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), early diagnosis leading to appropriate treatment may prevent long-term structural joint damage. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is typically used to assess individual body parts, indications for whole body (WB) MRI are increasing. Its utility as a diagnostic and monitoring tool has already been widely investigated in adult rheumatology patients, but less so in pediatric rheumatologic patients. This paper is a comprehensive review of scoring systems and a proposal for the conceptual development of a WB-MRI scoring system for the evaluation of JIA. In this review we identify, summarize, and critically appraise the available literature on the use of WB-MRI in inflammatory arthritis, addressing relevant considerations on components of a classification system that can lead to the development of a future pediatric WB-MRI scoring system for use in children with JIA. We also discuss advantages and challenges of developing such a WB-MRI scoring system for assessment of JIA and outline next steps toward the conceptual development of this scoring system.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 271-286 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Academic Radiology |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2021 |
Keywords
- Children
- Contrast agent
- Growing joints
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
- Magnetic resonance imaging
- Scoring systems
- Whole body