Abstract Objective Ankylosis, or spontaneous bone fusion, of the small joints of the hand is a rare event in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), being observed in 0.8% of them on conventional radiographs. It is associated with long-lasting and severe disease. In other settings, such as fracture healing, bone fusion is a reparative process. The aim of this paper is the study of the frequency of wrist ankylosis in patients with RA in comparison with other arthritides; to correlate ankylosis with disease activity. Methods A total of 94 patients affected by RA, 71 patients with different rheumatic conditions and 42 controls with no joint disease or with slight hand osteoarthritis were studied. DAS-28 CRP was calculated in patients with RA and psoriatic arthritis. MRI of the clinically most involved wrist was performed with a 0.2 T, extremity-dedicated MRI system. Results Of RA patients, 10/94 (10.6%) showed ankylosis in comparison with 2/113 (1.8%) controls (p=0.015). RA patients with ankylosis had longer disease duration (p=0.019) but similar disease activity. Conclusion MRI-defined bone ankylosis is frequent in RA. It is not limited to seronegative spondyloarthritides and may be part of the bone damage observed in RA.

Ankylosis of the wrist bones in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a study with extremity-dedicated MRI

BARBIERI, FRANCESCA;CAMELLINO, DARIO;PAPARO, FRANCESCO;CUTOLO, MAURIZIO;GARLASCHI, GIACOMO;CIMMINO, MARCO AMEDEO
2016-01-01

Abstract

Abstract Objective Ankylosis, or spontaneous bone fusion, of the small joints of the hand is a rare event in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), being observed in 0.8% of them on conventional radiographs. It is associated with long-lasting and severe disease. In other settings, such as fracture healing, bone fusion is a reparative process. The aim of this paper is the study of the frequency of wrist ankylosis in patients with RA in comparison with other arthritides; to correlate ankylosis with disease activity. Methods A total of 94 patients affected by RA, 71 patients with different rheumatic conditions and 42 controls with no joint disease or with slight hand osteoarthritis were studied. DAS-28 CRP was calculated in patients with RA and psoriatic arthritis. MRI of the clinically most involved wrist was performed with a 0.2 T, extremity-dedicated MRI system. Results Of RA patients, 10/94 (10.6%) showed ankylosis in comparison with 2/113 (1.8%) controls (p=0.015). RA patients with ankylosis had longer disease duration (p=0.019) but similar disease activity. Conclusion MRI-defined bone ankylosis is frequent in RA. It is not limited to seronegative spondyloarthritides and may be part of the bone damage observed in RA.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Ankylosis by MRI.pdf

accesso chiuso

Tipologia: Documento in versione editoriale
Dimensione 492.42 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
492.42 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11567/848541
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 0
  • Scopus 1
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 1
social impact