Conventional Hand Radiographs Research Articles

High-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography for the assessment of acro-osteolysis and calcinosis in patients with systemic sclerosis

ObjectiveTo assist the development of future treatments in systemic sclerosis (SSc), the development of reliable outcome measures is pivotal. We aimed to evaluate the use of high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HR-pQCT) for visualization and gradation of acro-osteolysis (AO) and calcinosis compared to conventional hand radiographs (CR) in patients with SSc. MethodsHR-pQCT scans of the 2nd to 4th fingers, CR, nail fold capillaroscopy, and a clinical examination were conducted. Images were reviewed for the presence and degree of AO and calcinosis according to semiquantitative grading scales. ResultsForty patients were included. Fourteen had AO according to CR, whereas HR-pQCT revealed AO in 18 patients. The sensitivity and specificity of classifying patients as having AO by HR-pQCT when CR was used as reference were 93% (95% CI: 66–99%) and 80% (95% CI: 59–93%), respectively. By CR and with HR-pQCT as reference, the sensitivity and specificity were 72% (95% CI: 47–90%) and 95% (95% CI: 76–99%). Patients with AO had more or larger calcifications than patients without AO according to the proposed HR-pQCT grading system, with a median grade of 2 (IQR: 1–3) versus 0 (IQR: 0–1) (P<0.01). Grade 3 changes were observed exclusively in patients with AO (n=6/14, 42.9%). Assessment of AO and calcinosis by HR-pQCT demonstrated moderate to excellent test-retest reliability. ConclusionHR-pQCT allowed precise and reliable classification and grading of acro-osteolysis and acral calcinosis. The modality could prove helpful for detecting and monitoring these lesions as well as facilitating early diagnosis and guide treatment of these patients.

Bone mineral density loss in clinically suspect arthralgia is associated with subclinical inflammation and progression to clinical arthritis

Objective: Peripheral bone mineral density (BMD) may be decreased in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but it is unknown whether BMD loss emerges before arthritis is clinically apparent. We aimed to study whether BMD loss occurs in patients with clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA), and whether it is associated with progression to clinical arthritis and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-detected subclinical inflammation.Method: Patients with CSA had arthralgia for <1 year and were at risk of progressing to RA according to their rheumatologists. At baseline, a 1.5 T MRI was performed of unilateral metacarpophalangeal, wrist, and metatarsophalangeal joints, and scored on synovitis, bone marrow oedema, and tenosynovitis;. summing these features yielded the total MRI inflammation score. Digital X-ray radiogrammetry (DXR) was used to estimate BMD on two sequential conventional hand radiographs (mean interval between radiographs 4.4 months). The change in BMD was studied; BMD loss was defined as a decrease of ≥2.5 mg/cm2/month. Patients were followed for arthritis development for a median of 18.4 months.Results: In CSA patients (n = 108), change in BMD was negatively associated with age (β = −0.03, p = 0.007). BMD loss in CSA patients was associated with arthritis development [adjusted for age hazard ratio (HR) = 6.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7 to 21.4] and was most frequently estimated in the months before clinical arthritis development. The total MRI inflammation scores were associated with the change in BMD (adjusted for age β = −0.05, p = 0.047). The total MRI inflammation score and BMD loss were both independently associated with arthritis development (HR = 1.1, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.2, and HR = 4.6, 95% CI 1.2 to 17.2, respectively).Conclusion: In CSA patients, severe BMD loss is associated with MRI-detectable subclinical inflammation and with progression to clinical arthritis.

Smoking and alcohol use are associated with structural and inflammatory hand osteoarthritis features

Objectives: To explore whether smoking and alcohol use are associated with hand osteoarthritis (OA) features in two different OA cohorts.Method: We studied 530 people with radiographic hand OA from the Musculoskeletal pain in Ullensaker STudy (MUST) and 187 people from the Oslo hand OA cohort [mean (sd) age 65 (8.0) and 62 (5.7) years, 71% and 91% women, respectively]. Smoking, alcohol use and hand pain were self-reported. Participants underwent conventional hand radiographs and ultrasound examination of 30 hand joints. The Kellgren–Lawrence sum score for radiographic OA severity (0–120 scale) and the proportion of participants having at least one joint with grey-scale synovitis (grade ≥1) were calculated. We studied whether smoking and alcohol use were cross-sectionally associated with radiographic OA, synovitis, and pain using adjusted linear and logistic regression analyses.Results: Smoking was associated with less radiographic OA in both cohorts [β = −4.71, 95% confidence interval (CI) −8.36 to −1.06 for current smoking in MUST and β = −0.15, 95% CI −0.29 to −0.02 for smoking pack-years in the Oslo hand OA cohort]. Stratified analyses indicated that the association was present in men only. Being a monthly drinker (examined in MUST only) was significantly associated with present synovitis compared to never drinkers (odds ratio = 2.35, 95% CI 1.27 to 4.34) (no gender differences). Neither smoking nor alcohol was associated with hand pain.Conclusions: Smoking was associated with less radiographic hand OA whereas alcohol consumption was associated with present joint inflammation in hand OA. Future longitudinal studies are needed to explore the causal associations and explanatory mechanisms behind gender differences.

Demographic, clinical and radiological characteristics of seronegative spondyloarthritis Egyptian patients: A rheumatology clinic experience in Mansoura

IntroductionSeronegative spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of chronic potentially disabling diseases that affect mainly axial joints in addition to extra-articular manifestations such as enthesitis, dactylitis and uveitis. Aim of the workTo assess the demographic features, clinical manifestations and radiological findings of SpA in Egyptian patients. Patients and methodsFifty-three SpA patients were recruited from the Rheumatology and Immunology Unit of Mansoura University Hospital. Demographic, clinical and therapeutic data were collected. Skin was carefully assessed for psoriasis. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured. All patients were evaluated by conventional radiographs of hands, knees, ankles, sacroiliac joints (SIJ) and lumbosacral spines in addition to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the SIJs. ResultsAnkylosing spondylitis (AS) was the most prevalent (55%) followed by psoriatic arthritis (PsA) (38%) and 2 patients had enteropathic arthritis, one had reactive arthritis and another had undifferentiated SpA. The mean age of the patients was 39±10.8years; disease duration was 10±3.5years with a male predominance (58%). Inflammatory low back pain was present in all the patients and 77.4% had both axial and peripheral arthritis. Extra-articular manifestations as enthesitis, bursitis and dactylitis were detected in only 9.4% of patients. Sacroiliitis was detected in 81.1% of patients using conventional radiographs. MRI detected bone marrow edema in 9.4%, narrowing in 11.3%, sclerosis in 17% and ankylosis in 52.8%. ConclusionThe demographic, clinical and radiological characteristics of Egyptian SpA patients are comparable to those from other countries except for the lower prevalence of extra-articular manifestations.

Activity and expression of dipeptidyl peptidase IV on peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with early steroid and disease modifying antirheumatic drugs naïve rheumatoid arthritis.

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPPIV/CD26) plays an important role in T cell activation and immune regulation, however the role of this enzyme in early rheumatoid arthritis (eRA) has not been clearly defined. The aim of this study was to determine the serum activity of DPPIV, its expression on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and to examine possible correlations with disease activity (DAS28) in untreated patients with eRA. The study included 50 patients newly diagnosed with RA, who had not received any corticosteroid or disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) therapy and whose conventional radiographs of hands and feet showed no structural damage. The control group consisted of 40 healthy volunteers. Also, 30 patients with chronic RA (cRA) were examined. The serum activity of DPPIV was determined by the direct photometric method, while expression of CD26 on PBMC was determined using flow cytometry. Decreased DPPIV serum activity was detected in patients with eRA and cRA compared to the control group (p=0.024, p<0.0001, respectively). Although, the percentage of overall CD26+ white blood cells (WBC) was significantly decreased in eRA patients (p<0.001), the percentage of CD26+ lymphocytes and monocytes and mean fluorescence intensity of CD26 on these cells in eRA patients showed no significant difference compared to healthy volunteers. DAS28 showed no significant correlation with CD26 expression or DPPIV serum activity, but a significant inverse correlation between the duration of symptoms and DPPIV serum activity was observed. Our results show that a decrease in DPPIV serum activity, but not CD26 expression, is present in an early stage of rheumatoid arthritis.

Ultrasound-detected synovitis with power Doppler signal is associated with severe radiographic damage and reduced cartilage thickness in hand osteoarthritis

To examine ultrasound (US) features of synovitis in hand osteoarthritis (OA) joints, and to evaluate their relationship with radiological damage severity and US-detected cartilage thickness. US examination was carried out on 14 joints of both hands of 25 patients with symptomatic hand OA (HOA) and 10 age- and sex-matched control subjects. US-detected features were: synovial hypertrophy, effusion, power Doppler signal (PDS), cartilage thickness. Conventional hand radiographs were scored utilizing the Kellgren-Lawrence and Kallman systems. HOA patients were divided into two subsets: non-erosive and erosive. Among the three groups of subjects studied, erosive OA showed the highest values of radiological scores and the highest prevalence of US-detected synovitis. Joints positive for US synovitis features (above all PDS) had higher radiological scores and lower cartilage thickness, while joints with X-ray detected central erosions [the hallmark of erosive HOA were more likely to present PDS positivity. US measured cartilage thickness inversely correlated with radiological damage scores. US-detected synovitis is present in about 10% of HOA finger joints and is associated with more severe radiological damage and reduced cartilage thickness. PDS and cartilage thickness (mm) may represent two innovative additional information tools provided by ultrasonography in HOA evaluation.

Automatic quantification of osteoarthritis in hand radiographs: validation of a new method to measure joint space width

To quantify osteoarthritis (OA) by automatic measurement of the joint space width (JSW) in the finger joints in hand radiographs, and validate this against semi-quantitative scoring. Forty subjects with primary OA at multiple sites were selected, 20 of which had no joint space narrowing (JSN) in the hand, and 20 had moderate to severe JSN. Conventional hand radiographs were acquired and the image set was split into a training and test set, for developing and evaluating the method, respectively. No methods to quantify the JSW automatically in OA exist; therefore a method was developed. First the semi-automatic image analysis program identifies the metacarpal and interphalangeal joints. Subsequently, the corresponding joint margins and measurement interval are determined. Finally the JSW is measured in millimetres as the average distance between the joint margins enclosed by the measurement interval. The success rates of different steps of the image analysis were evaluated and a comparison was made between the JSW and the semi-quantitative Osteoarthritis Research Society International score for JSN. The success rates for the identification of the joint locations and margins were 97.5% and 64.2%, respectively. The JSW decreased with increasing semi-quantitative scores, but increased as the joint was severely damaged. The agreement between the JSW and the semi-quantitative score was confirmed by a significant correlation (R2=0.54 and P<0.01) while assessing hand pairs instead of individual joints. The JSW measurement closely reflects semi-quantitative scoring of JSN. Therefore, this method is expected to offer a reproducible and accurate measurement of the JSW in OA.

Reliability and sensitivity to change of the OMERACT rheumatoid arthritis magnetic resonance imaging score in a multireader, longitudinal setting

To assess the intra- and interreader reliability and the sensitivity to change of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology Clinical Trials (OMERACT) Rheumatoid Arthritis Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (RAMRIS) system on digital images of the wrist joints of patients with early or established rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Ten sets of baseline and 1-year followup MR images of the wrists of patients with progressive changes on conventional hand radiographs were scored independently by 4 readers on 2 consecutive days, preceded by reader training and calibration. The MR images were acquired and scored according to the recommendations from the OMERACT MRI group. The intra- and interreader agreement (evaluated by intraclass correlation coefficients [ICCs]) and the sensitivity to change (evaluated by the smallest detectable difference [SDD]) were determined for scores of synovitis, erosion, and bone marrow edema status and for change scores. Intrareader ICCs were generally very high, both for status scores (median baseline and followup 0.89 and 0.90 for synovitis, 0.91 and 0.90 for erosion, and 0.90 and 0.98 for edema) and for change scores (median 0.80 for synovitis, 0.96 for erosion, and 0.97 for edema). The SDDs were generally low, suggesting a high potential to detect changes. Interreader single-measure ICCs were high for status scores (mean baseline and followup 0.69 and 0.78 for synovitis, 0.83 and 0.73 for erosion, and 0.79 and 0.95 for edema) and for change scores (mean 0.74 for synovitis, 0.67 for erosion, and 0.95 for edema). The average-measure ICCs were > or =0.94 for all components of both the status scores and change scores. The RAMRIS showed very good intrareader reliability, good interreader reliability, and a high level of sensitivity to change. The results suggest that the RAMRIS may be a suitable system for use in monitoring joint inflammation and destruction in RA.