Bone edema determined by magnetic resonance imaging reflects severe disease status in patients with early-stage rheumatoid arthritis.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the significance of bone edema, detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in early-stage rheumatoid arthritis (RA).


METHODS
We simultaneously examined serologic variables, MRI of wrist sites and finger joints of both hands, clinical disease activity score (DAS), and HLA-DR typing at entry in 80 patients with early-stage RA.


RESULTS
The number of bones scored as positive for bone edema correlated with the number of sites scored as positive for MRI synovitis and MRI bone erosion, rate of enhancement (E-rate), and serum C-reactive protein (CRP), matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3), and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Findings for MRI synovitis and MRI bone erosion, E-rate, CRP, MMP-3, IL-6, seropositivity, and titer of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP antibody), DAS28-CRP and HLA-DRB1*0405 allele carriership, were significantly higher in the positive versus the negative bone edema group.


CONCLUSIONS
Bone edema based on our scoring system may reflect severe disease status in patients with early-stage RA. However, its clinical value at entry in prognostication of RA should be examined through prospective clinical followup studies.
Tamai
Mami
M
First Department of Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki, Japan.
Kawakami
Atsushi
A
Uetani
Masataka
M
Takao
Shoichiro
S
Tanaka
Fumiko
F
Fujikawa
Keita
K
Aramaki
Toshiyuki
T
Nakamura
Hideki
H
Iwanaga
Nozomi
N
Izumi
Yasumori
Y
Arima
Kazuhiko
K
Aratake
Kouichiro
K
Kamachi
Makoto
M
Huang
Mingguo
M
Origuchi
Tomoki
T
Ida
Hiroaki
H
Aoyagi
Kiyoshi
K
Eguchi
Katsumi
K
D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000473:pathology*; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D004487:Edema / Q000473:pathology*; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D019278:Matrix Metalloproteinase 3 / Q000097:blood; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000276:immunology; D011379:Prognosis; D013585:Synovitis / Q000473:pathology
D001323:Autoantibodies; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; C493960:HLA-DRB1*04:05 antigen; C508600:IL6 protein, human; D015850:Interleukin-6; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; C487763:cyclic citrullinated peptide; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; C511768:MMP3 protein, human; D019278:Matrix Metalloproteinase 3