title: Imaging in rheumatoid arthritis: options, uses and optimization.
abstract: Recent advances in imaging technology are dramatically changing the approach to patients with inflammatory arthritis. Conventional radiography is still the major imaging modality used to evaluate patients with rheumatoid arthritis in daily clinical practice. In the last decade, several investigations have shown the diagnostic ability of MRI and ultrasound to rectify the traditional approach to early diagnosis and disease activity monitoring. This review will summarize the options, uses and optimization of these imaging modalities with a special focus on ultrasound, which is currently the most promising tool to change the paradigms in both early diagnosis and therapy monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis.
authors.affiliation: a 1 Clinica Reumatologica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Grassi
authors.affiliation: a 1 Clinica Reumatologica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.|b 2 Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okano
authors.affiliation: a 1 Clinica Reumatologica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Geso
authors.affiliation: a 1 Clinica Reumatologica, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Filippucci
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D014463:Ultrasonography
keywords: computed tomography; conventional radiography; magnetic resonance imaging; rheumatoid arthritis; ultrasound