PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Christian E. Althoff
AU  - Joachim Sieper
AU  - In-Ho Song
AU  - Anja Weiß
AU  - Torsten Diekhoff
AU  - Hildrun Haibel
AU  - Bernd Hamm
AU  - Kay-Geert A. Hermann
TI  - Comparison of Clinical Examination versus Whole-body Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Enthesitis in Patients with Early Axial Spondyloarthritis during 3 Years of Continuous Etanercept Treatment
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.150659
DP  - 2016 Mar 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 618--624
VI  - 43
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/43/3/618.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/43/3/618.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2016 Mar 01; 43
AB  - Objective. To compare clinical examination versus whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) of enthesitis in patients with early axial spondyloarthritis during 3 years of continuous etanercept (ETN) treatment.Methods. Forty-one patients underwent clinical and WB-MRI examinations for enthesitis at baseline and after 2 and 3 years of treatment. Twenty-one sites were assessed in 4 anatomic regions — anterior chest wall, pelvis, knee, and foot.Results. Clinical examination at baseline detected enthesitis in 57% of the patients (85 lesions, mean 2.1 lesions, SD 2.9), most of them in the pelvis (42 lesions in 17 patients) and anterior chest wall (19 lesions in 10 patients). The proportion of patients with clinically detected enthesitis decreased to 19% at Year 2 (mean 0.5, SD 1.5) and 14% at Year 3 (mean 0.7, SD 1.8). WB-MRI detected enthesitis at baseline in 21% of patients (22 lesions, mean 0.5 lesions, SD 1.1), also most frequently in the pelvis (12 lesions) and anterior chest wall (7 lesions). MRI-positive enthesitis decreased to 13% at Year 2 (mean 0.2 lesions, SD 0.5) and 14% at Year 3 (mean 0.2 lesions, SD 0.5). There was positive correlation of clinical and MRI findings at baseline at the anterior chest wall (p = 0.001) and the pelvis (p = 0.0001). No correlation was found at the knee and foot at baseline and for all regions at followup.Conclusion. Both clinical examination and WB-MRI show a decrease in enthesitis after 2 and 3 years of ETN treatment, but correlation was limited to the pelvis and anterior chest wall at baseline.