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

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

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.

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