PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Philipp Sewerin
AU  - Christoph Schleich
AU  - Ralph Brinks
AU  - Anja Müller-Lutz
AU  - Florian Fichter
AU  - Markus Eichner
AU  - Matthias Schneider
AU  - Benedikt Ostendorf
AU  - Stefan Vordenbäumen
TI  - Synovial perfusion assessed by dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI is associated to treatment response, remission, and cartilage quality in rheumatoid arthritis
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.180832
DP  - 2019 Mar 15
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - jrheum.180832
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/03/11/jrheum.180832.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2019/03/11/jrheum.180832.full
AB  - Objective To assess associations of synovial perfusion, cartilage quality and outcome in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods Synovial perfusion and cartilage quality were assessed by dynamic contrastenhanced magnetic resonance imaging in metacarpophalangeal joints of 28 treatment-naïve RA patients at baseline, 3 and 6 months after methotrexate. Analysis was by linear mixed modelling. Results Synovial perfusion parameters were associated to remission (p<0.05) and cartilage quality (p<0.004). Maximum synovial enhancement was associated to EULAR response (p<0.05). Synovial perfusion improved in non-responders over time (p<0.05). Conclusion Synovial perfusion relates to remission, response, and cartilage quality in a cohort of therapy naïve, early RA patients.