[Nuclear spin tomography in synovitis: experimental and clinical results]

We report our experimental and clinical results in the evaluation of synovitis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and discuss them in the light of the literature. Using rheumatoid arthritis in the rat as a model, we have shown that MRI is more sensitive than physical examination and X-ray for the diagnosis of early soft-tissue inflammation in arthritis. On the basis of MRI findings, in patients with morning stiffness we have found an incidence of tenosynovitis higher than that reported in the literature. Because other groups have demonstrated the usefulness of MRI for the evaluation of inflammatory cartilage and bony lesions in arthritis as well, we anticipate that this method will assume increasing importance in the diagnosis and monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis and related diseases.