MRI qualitative and quantitative anlaysis of wrist and hand changes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis / 中国介入影像与治疗学

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the diagnostic value of qualitative and quantitative analysis for wrist and hand changes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients based on 3.0T MR images.Methods A total of 39 RA patients were enrolled and divided into 2 groups according to the course of the diseases,including 20 cases defined as early stage group (≤24 months) and 19 cases defined as middle-late stage group (＞24 months).MRI features such as joint synovitis,bone marrow edema,bone erosion,the tenosynovitis in wrists and hands were observed emphatically.Volumes of synovitis and bone marrow edema for all patients were quantified with the software developed by Kunming University of Science and Technology.Results Among the 78 sides of hands and wrists in 39 patients,the incidence rate of synovitis,bone marrow edema,bone erosion,tenosynovitis was 94.87％ (37/39),64.10％ (25/39),61.54％ (24/39) and 76.92％ (30/39),respectively.The highest incidence rate of synovitis,bone marrow edema and bone erosion was respectively found in the wrist (72/78,92.31 ％),carpus (48/78,61.54 ％) andtriangular bone (50/78,64.1 ％).There was no statistical significance difference of the occurrence of peritendinitis between the flexor tendons (74.36％ [58/78]) and extensor tendons (61.54％ [48/78];x2 =2.94,P=0.09).No statistical difference of the incidence rates of synovitis,bone marrow edema,bone erosion and tenosynovitis was found between the early stage group and middle-late stage group (all P＞0.05).There was no significant difference of synovitis and bone marrow edema volumes between the early stage group and the middle-late stage group (both P＞0.05) with MRI quantitative analysis.Conclusion 3.0T MRI can clearly demonstrate the pathological changes of the wrists and hands in RA patients.The quantitative analysis software can provide more accurate indicators for the assessment of disease severity.