title: MRI and ultrasound in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To overview the recent literature on the use of MRI and musculoskeletal ultrasonography (MSUS) in rheumatoid arthritis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subclinical inflammation has been widely confirmed, even in the earliest phases of rheumatoid arthritis. The presence of osteitis has added benefits to modern diagnostic criteria, and anticitrullinated peptide antibody positive patients have demonstrated higher osteitis scores. A model for prediction of rheumatoid arthritis onset employing usual clinical data and power Doppler ultrasonography has been reported. The presence of tenosynovitis may also be an early finding in rheumatoid arthritis. Modern imaging continues to inform our concept of pathogenesis with reports on the direct relationship of synovitis to cartilage proteoglycan loss using compositional MRI measures. Growing data on the validity of MRI as an important predictor of clinical and radiographic damage endpoints has been reported and reflected in the growing use of this outcome in many contemporary biologic therapy trials. Much work has been presented on improved and validated MSUS scores with reduced and feasible joint counts. The role of ultrasonography in making sensible decisions when monitoring biologic use, and in tapering, has been reported.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The recent literature demonstrates improved validity and utility for both MRI and MSUS in diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India bLeeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, University of Leeds & NIHR Leeds Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: Ashish J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mathew
authors.forename: Debashish
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Danda
authors.forename: Philip G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Conaghan
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods