99m Tc-albumin nanocolloid joint scintigraphy in rheumatoid arthritis patients who are in clinical remission - is remission real ?
OBJECTIVE
To make a comparison between the clinical data and the imaging results with 99mTc-nanocolloid scintigraphy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients considered to be in remission.


METHODS
Forty RA patients found to be in clinical remission according to the ACR and the EULAR (DAS28<2.6) criteria were studied. The group included 29 females and 11 males with a mean age of 60.8+/-13.5 years (range 22-86) and a mean disease duration of 13.4+/-7.7 years (range 2-23). The mean time of remission in the study group was 22.2+/-5.2 months (range 11-36). Each patient was given an intravenous injection of 555MBq of 99mTc-nanocalloid (NC). Spot views of the skeleton were taken and a SPECT-CT was done on the wrists and hands. A scan was considered positive when at least one of the hand joints showed increased tracer uptake.


RESULTS
The 99mTc-nanocalloid scintigraphy was negative in 14 (35%) and positive for active joint disease in 26 (65%) patients. Twenty four out of the 26 patients with positive scan (92%) were sero-positive while those who had a negative scintigraphy were all sero-negative except one. No correlation was found between the type of treatment used, the time that elapsed from remission, or laboratory parameters (ESR CRP) and the scintigraphic results.


CONCLUSIONS
The clinical criteria used for remission in RA are not consistent with the actual inflammatory activity in the joints. These results are especially emphasised in the subgroup of sero-positive patients.
Tishler
Moshe
M
Department of Medicine B, Assaf Harofe Medical Center, Zrifin, Israel. tishlerm@netvision.net.il
Lysyy
Oleg
O
Levy
Ofer
O
Volkov
Olga
O
Golan
Haim
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012074:Remission Induction; D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods*; D014955:Wrist Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D055815:Young Adult
D013668:Technetium Tc 99m Aggregated Albumin; C083602:technetium Tc 99m nanocolloid