title: Exploratory analyses of the association of MRI with clinical, laboratory and radiographic findings in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evaluate relationships between MRI and clinical/laboratory/radiographic findings in rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
  
  
  METHODS
  637 methotrexate-naive patients (GO-BEFORE) and 444 patients with active RA despite methotrexate (GO-FORWARD) were randomly assigned to subcutaneous placebo + methotrexate, golimumab 100mg + placebo, golimumab 50mg + methotrexate, or golimumab 100mg + methotrexate every-4-weeks. In GO-BEFORE(n=318) and GO-FORWARD(n=240) substudies, MRI of dominant wrist/metacarpophalangeal joints were scored for synovitis, bone oedema and bone erosion (RA MRI scoring (RAMRIS) system). Relationships between RAMRIS scores and serum C-reactive protein (CRP), 28-joint count disease activity score (DAS28-CRP) and van der Heijde modified Sharp (vdH-S) scores were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Baseline and weeks 24/28 DAS28-CRP, CRP, and vdH-S generally correlated well with baseline and week 24 RAMRIS synovitis, oedema and erosion scores. Early (week 4) CRP changes correlated with later (week 12) RAMRIS synovitis/oedema change scores; earlier (week 12) changes in some RAMRIS scores correlated with later (weeks 24/28) changes in vdH-S. Significant correlations between RAMRIS change scores and clinical/radiographic change scores were weak.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MRI and clinical/laboratory/radiographic measures generally correlated well. Associations between earlier changes in CRP and later changes in RAMRIS synovitis/osteitis were observed. Changes in MRI and clinical/radiographic measures did not correlate well, probably because MRI is more sensitive than radiographs and more objective than DAS28-CRP.
authors.affiliation: University of Leeds, NIHR Leeds Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit, UK. p.emery@leeds.ac.uk
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Emery
authors.forename: Désirée
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van der Heijde
authors.forename: Mikkel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ostergaard
authors.forename: Philip G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Conaghan
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Genovese
authors.forename: Edward C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Keystone
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fleischmann
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Hsia
authors.forename: Weichun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Mahboob U
authors.initials: MU
authors.lastname: Rahman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008727:Methotrexate / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014955:Wrist Joint / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; C529000:golimumab; D008727:Methotrexate