Performance of a novel high-resolution infrared thermography marker in detecting and assessing joint inflammation: a comparison with joint ultrasound.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the value of a novel high-resolution thermographic marker in the detection of joint inflammation compared to joint ultrasound (US) and to suggest thermographic cut-off values of joint inflammatory activity. METHODS: Infrared thermographies were performed in patients with inflammatory arthritides and healthy controls. Patients were moreover examined clinically and by joint-US [Power-Doppler-(PDUS), Greyscale-US (GSUS)]. Regions of interest (ROIs) were defined for every joint and absolute temperature values within the ROIs were documented. The hottest areas ("hotspots") were identified by a clustering algorithm and the Hotspot/ROI-Ratio (HRR)-values were calculated. Subsequently, the HRR of patient-joints with different grades of hypervascularity (PDUS I°-III°) were compared among each other and with PDUS 0° control-joints. Diagnostic HRR-performance was tested by receiver-operating-characteristics. RESULTS: 360 joints of 75 arthritis-patients and 1,808 joints of 70 controls were thermographically examined. HRR-values were statistically different between PDUS I-III vs. PDUS 0 and vs. healthy subjects for all four joint groups as well as in the majority of cases between patient-joints with different grades of hypervascularity (PDUS I°-III°; p<0.05). Taking joint-US as a reference, the best performance of HRR was found at the level of the wrist-joints by an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.91 (95%CI 0.84-0.98) with a sensitivity of 0.83 and specificity of 0.88. CONCLUSIONS: HRR showed an excellent performance in the differentiation of joints with US inflammatory activity from non-inflamed joints. Moreover, HRR was able to differentiate between joints with different grades of hypervascularity, making HRR a promising tool to assist disease activity monitoring.

[Real World Management of Gouty Arthritis: Clinical, Epidemiological and Comorbidity Data from 4016 Patients in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany]. / Realität der Versorgungssituation der Gicht: Daten zur Klinik, Epidemiologie und Komorbiditäten von 4016 Patienten in Rheinland-Pfalz.

BACKGROUND: To examine clinical, comorbidity and demographic aspects of gout and to explore the routine clinical practice of gout treatment among general practitioners (G.P.'s) in southwest Germany. METHODS: Gout specific questionnaires were sent to all G.P.'s in Rhineland Palatinate (RL-P), through the Panel physicians' Association. Questionnaires consisted of items exploring epidemiological, medication and comorbidity data. Moreover, questions regarding clinical gout manifestations were included with an extra focus on therapy-refractory cases. Finally, G.P.'s were asked to rate the current care status of gout. RESULTS: Data from 4016 gout patients (age at diagnosis: 62.8 years, IQR 55 - 67.8) were collected. The majority of patients were male (75 %) with podagra being the most common gout manifestation (85 %). Chronic tophaceous courses were reported in 15 % (median 10 %, IQR 2 - 20) and spinal involvement in 2.7 % (median 0 %, IQR 0 - 2) of patients respectively. An average of 11.3 % cases (median 10 %, IQR 2.3 - 20) were defined as "hard-to-treat". However, biologic agents were not namely reported as applied treatments. 32 % of patients were diagnosed with gout by their G.P., whereas 68 % had to visit further physicians. A definite diagnosis could be reached after 3.1 months on average (median 0.3, IQR 0.1 - 1). CONCLUSIONS: In the era of biologic therapies there is a need for optimization of gout management. Important targets are the shortening of diagnostic periods and the prevention of chronic disease courses. Critical awareness of the disease and its comorbidities, standardized treatment and patient-training could be important steps toward this direction.