[Rheumatoid arthritis of the wrist. Dynamic Gd-DTPA enhanced MRT]

21 patients with rheumatoid arthritis of the wrist diagnosed according to the criteria of the American Rheumatism Association were examined by dynamic MRT before and after the i.v. injection of Gd-DTPA (0.1 mmol/kg). The results were correlated with the clinical and radiological findings. The increased signal intensity of the pannus was 1.17 +/- 0.45%/sec and this differed significantly (p < 0.001) from bone marrow (0.16 +/- 0.11%/sec) and from muscle (0.25 +/- 0.16%/sec). Blood sedimentation rate correlated with the gradient of synovial proliferation (p < 0.05). There were no further statistically significant correlations between the clinical, radiological and MRT findings and the change in signal intensity from synovial proliferation as shown by dynamic MRT.