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Detecting joints with erosion(s) in rheumatoid arthritis: a novel individualized-ultrasound method performs better than existing methods

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Japanese Journal of Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To determine if a novel individualized-ultrasound (IUS) method can detect more joints with erosion(s) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients versus existing methods.

Materials and methods

The IUS method selects up to 7 or 14 ultrasonographically most inflamed joints whereas existing methods pre-fix 7 or 14 joints for ultrasonography. Using ultrasonography, the mean total inflammatory score (TIS), mean number of affected joints and mean number of joints with erosion(s) were compared between novel and existing methods among 30 RA patients using the paired Student t test.

Results

Using 7-joint approach, comparing IUS versus existing methods, the mean (95% CI) for TIS, number of affected joints, and number of joints with erosion(s) were: 2.18 (1.88, 2.48) versus 0.95 (0.78, 1.11); 7 (7, 7) versus 4.43 (3.93, 4.94); 3.20 (2.44, 3.96) versus 1.33 (0.94, 1.72), respectively. Using 14-joint approach, comparing IUS versus existing methods, the mean (95% CI) for TIS, number of affected joints, and number of joints with erosion(s) were: 3.17 (2.75, 3.6) versus 1.71 (1.38, 2.04); 13.5 (13.05, 13.95) versus 8.13 (7.24, 9.02); 4.23 (3.13, 5.34) versus 2.77 (2.03, 3.50), respectively. p values all < 0.0001.

Conclusions

A novel IUS method detects substantially more joints with erosion(s) in RA patients versus existing methods.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the colleagues and the staff from the study site for all the support and help that has been rendered in the conduct of this research study.

Funding

Nil.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore, Singapore

    York Kiat Tan & Julian Thumboo

  2. Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Rd, Singapore, Singapore

    York Kiat Tan & Julian Thumboo

  3. Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, 10 Medical Dr, Singapore, Singapore

    York Kiat Tan & Julian Thumboo

  4. Health Services Research, Singapore General Hospital, Outram Road, Singapore, Singapore

    HuiHua Li

  5. Centre for Quantitative Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Rd, Singapore, Singapore

    John Carson Allen Jr.

Authors
  1. York Kiat Tan
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  2. HuiHua Li
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  3. John Carson Allen Jr.
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  4. Julian Thumboo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to York Kiat Tan.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical statement

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Tan, Y.K., Li, H., Allen, J.C. et al. Detecting joints with erosion(s) in rheumatoid arthritis: a novel individualized-ultrasound method performs better than existing methods. Jpn J Radiol 37, 793–797 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-019-00870-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-019-00870-y

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