Article
Rheumatology
Zechen Ma, Hanyan Zou, Mary-Clair Yelovich, Saara Totterman, Karen Beattie, Maggie Larche
Summary: Standard care in early RA patients was associated with overall reductions in synovitis by year 2. Improvement in bone marrow edema was seen by year 1, and there was no progression in overall erosion scores on MRI. MTPJ2 and MTPJ3 appeared to be the most active joints.
CLINICAL RHEUMATOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Orthopedics
Fernanda Junqueira Cesar Pirola, Murillo Dorio, Ricardo Fuller, Jayme Fogagnolo Cobra, Lucas Peixoto Sales, Camille Pinto Figueiredo
Summary: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that can cause joint damage, deformity, and functional impairment. Shoulder involvement is less common but can be underdiagnosed if not carefully analyzed, especially in uncontrolled disease. This case report presents a 70-year-old male with difficult-to-manage RA showing severe shoulder arthritis and a giant geode in the left humeral head on MRI. The striking MRI image of a giant geode in poorly controlled RA should raise suspicion of shoulder involvement for early investigation and treatment.
BMC MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS
(2023)
Article
Rheumatology
Katerina Chatzidionysiou, Alexandra Circiumaru, Bence Rethi, Vijay Joshua, Marianne Engstrom, Aase Hensvold, Erik af Klint, Anca Catrina
Summary: Tocilizumab reduced synovial T-cell counts but not macrophages in rheumatoid arthritis patients. A significant increase in serum IL-6 was observed in responders to tocilizumab.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Susanne N. Wijesinghe, Mark A. Lindsay, Simon W. Jones
Summary: Research on osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis has shown that oligonucleotide therapies may be a potential method to treat these diseases by modulating cellular pathways to alter joint pathology and prevent disease progression.
Article
Rheumatology
Sascha L. Heckert, Sytske Anne Bergstra, Xanthe M. E. Matthijssen, Yvonne P. M. Goekoop-Ruiterman, Faouzia Fodili, Saskia Ten Wolde, Cornelia F. Allaart, Tom W. J. Huizinga
Summary: In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, baseline joint swelling was significantly associated with swelling in the same joint during follow-up, and it was found to better predict local joint swelling compared to baseline swelling in other joints. This suggests that local factors play a role in the recurrence of joint swelling over time.
ANNALS OF THE RHEUMATIC DISEASES
(2022)
Review
Rheumatology
Silvia Hayer, Margriet J. Vervoordeldonk, Maria C. Denis, Marietta Armaka, Markus Hoffmann, Johan Backlund, Kutty Selva Nandakumar, Birgit Niederreiter, Christina Geka, Anita Fischer, Nina Woodworth, Stephan Blueml, George Kollias, Rikard Holmdahl, Florence Apparailly, Marije Koenders
Summary: Animal models for inflammatory arthritides like rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis are widely used for research, but many publications lack detailed descriptions and evaluations of arthritis pathology. The European consortium BeTheCure developed SMASH recommendations for standardised histological evaluation to improve information and promote reproducibility in preclinical research on inflammatory arthritis.
ANNALS OF THE RHEUMATIC DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Rheumatology
Clement Triaille, Gaelle Tilman, Tatiana Sokolova, Axelle Loriot, Joelle Marchandise, Stephanie De Montjoye, Adrien Nzeusseu-Toukap, Laurent Meric de Bellefon, Caroline Bouzin, Christine Galant, Patrick Durez, Bernard R. Lauwerys, Nisha Limaye
Summary: This study used transcriptomic profiling to explore clinically relevant subgroups in early, untreated rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The synovial transcriptome closely mirrored clinical disease activity, and the ratio of M2:M1 macrophages was inversely correlated with inflammation and disease activity, suggesting a protective role for tissue resident macrophages in RA.
ANNALS OF THE RHEUMATIC DISEASES
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Xiang Li, Xiaonan Tang, Yufei Wang, Changwei Chai, Zhehui Zhao, Haijing Zhang, Ying Peng, Lianqiu Wu
Summary: CS-semi5 showed positive effects on collagen-induced arthritis in mice, alleviating main pathologies and reducing inflammation and bone loss through NF-kappa B deactivation.
CS-semi5 treatment decreased TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta production in activated macrophages and inhibited osteoclast differentiation from macrophages.
Therefore, CS-semi5 may effectively ameliorate symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis by modulating the immune pathway.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Rheumatology
I Gessl, P. Balint, E. Filippucci, H. Keen, C. Pineda, L. Terslev, B. Wildner, M. A. D'Agostino, P. Mandl
Summary: The systematic literature review identified 149 articles on musculoskeletal ultrasound in assessing structural joint damage in patients with RA. Most studies reported on cross-sectional studies and used OMERACT definitions for ultrasonographic pathology. The results suggest that ultrasound is a sensitive, reliable tool for detecting damage in RA patients, but further research and validation are needed.
SEMINARS IN ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATISM
(2021)
Review
Rheumatology
Nadia M. T. Roodenrijs, Melinda Kedves, Attila Hamar, Gyorgy Nagy, Jacob M. van Laar, Desiree van der Heijde, Paco M. J. Welsing
Summary: This study summarized the evidence on diagnostic issues in difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis (D2T RA) and found a scarcity of high-quality studies, no diagnostic tests with sufficient validity and accuracy identified, with ultrasonography (US) showing promise for assessing inflammatory activity.
Review
Rheumatology
Aurelie Najm, Felicie Costantino, Catherine Weill, Andrew Filer, Maria Antonieta D'Agostino
Summary: This study aims to summarize the impact of biopsy procedures, tissue handling, tissue quality, and disease-specific factors on synovial tissue outcome. The study found that study design, population, sample handling, randomization, and analysis can affect the final results of synovial tissue research.
Article
Rheumatology
Raphael Micheroli, Muriel Elhai, Sam Edalat, Mojca Frank-Bertoncelj, Kristina Buerki, Adrian Ciurea, Lucy MacDonald, Mariola Kurowska-Stolarska, Myles J. Lewis, Katriona Goldmann, Cankut Cubuk, Tadeja Kuret, Oliver Distler, Costantino Pitzalis, Caroline Ospelt
Summary: This study integrated single-cell RNA sequencing data to assess the contribution of synovial fibroblast subsets to synovial pathotypes and clinical characteristics in treatment-naive early arthritis. The findings revealed a previously unexplored association between specific synovial pathologies and subtypes of synovial fibroblasts.
Article
Rheumatology
York Kiat Tan, HuiHua Li, John Carson Allen, Julian Thumboo
Summary: The severity of ultrasound-detected bone erosions in rheumatoid arthritis was significantly greater when both positive power Doppler and a greater degree of gray-scale joint inflammation were present, indicative of joint damage severity.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RHEUMATIC DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Kai Zhou, Chengli Yang, Kun Shi, Yue Liu, Danrong Hu, Xinlong He, Yun Yang, Bingyang Chu, Jinrong Peng, Zongke Zhou, Zhiyong Qian
Summary: This study demonstrates that repolarizing macrophages can reduce inflammation in osteoarthritis, providing a promising therapeutic strategy.
Article
Immunology
Emiliano Marasco, Gianluigi Fabbriciani, Laura Rotunno, Matteo Longhi, Paola De Luca, Laura de Girolamo, Alessandra Colombini
Summary: This study analyzed lymphocyte subsets and levels of circulating cytokines in patients with RA with progressive bone erosions. The findings suggest that abnormalities in B cells and the cytokines IL-11 and IL-17A may play a role in bone reabsorption in RA patients with progressive erosive disease.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Rheumatology
Scott Cameron Brunet, Stephanie Finzel, Klaus Engelke, Steven Kyle Boyd, Cheryl Barnabe, Sarah Lynn Manske
Summary: HR-pQCT is sensitive in detecting bone surface changes in early inflammatory arthritis (EIA) patients. Gradual degradation of joint space width proportional to symptom duration was observed in the study. Patients with EIA need close monitoring for exacerbation of arthritis and progression of periarticular bone damage.
Article
Rheumatology
Stephanie Finzel, Sarah L. Manske, Cheryl C. M. Barnabe, Andrew J. Burghardt, Hubert Marotte, Andrea Scharmga, Ellen-Margrethe Hauge, Roland Chapurlat, Klaus Engelke, Xiaojuan Li, Bente C. J. van Teeffelen, Philip G. Conaghan, Kathryn S. Stok
Summary: The objective of this multireader exercise was to evaluate the reliability and change over time of erosion measurements in RA patients using HR-pQCT. The study showed good reliability of HR-pQCT erosion measurements, particularly in pathological erosion, and their ability to detect changes over time through measurements of width and depth.
JOURNAL OF RHEUMATOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Rheumatology
Stephanie Finzel, Sandrine Jousse-Joulin, Felicie Costantino, Petra Hanova, Alojzija Hocevar, Annamaria Iagnocco, Helen Keen, Esperanza Naredo, Sarah Ohrndorf, Wolfgang A. Schmidt, Maria Antonietta D'Agostino, Lene Terslev, George A. Bruyn
Summary: The consensually agreed US definitions and scoring system for major salivary gland assessment showed high reliability in patients with SS, while the reliability of the Sjogren's signature was moderate.
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Miriam T. Leiderer, Goetz H. Welsch, Isabel Molwitz, Kai-Jonathan Maas, Gerhard Adam, Peter Bannas, Frank Oliver Henes
Summary: The study found that midtarsal sprain is a common injury in professional soccer players, and athletes with combined midtarsal and ankle sprain have a longer return to play time compared to those with isolated ankle ligament injuries.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF RADIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Hannes Seuss, Matthias Hammon, Frank Roemer, Rafael Heiss, Rolf Janka, Michael Uder, Peter Dankerl
Summary: The study evaluated the diagnostic performance and reader agreement of a novel MRI image fusion method for assessing the tibiofibular syndesmosis. The results showed that this method enables reliable detection of anteroinferior tibiofibular ligament rupture with excellent inter- and intrareader agreement.
Article
Clinical Neurology
M. Wiesmueller, W. Wuest, M. S. May, S. Ellmann, R. Heiss, M. Saake, R. Janka, M. Uder, F. B. Laun
Summary: This study compared the diagnostic value of readout-segmented echo-planar DWI and single-shot TSE DWI for cholesteatoma diagnostics. The results showed that TSE DWI had higher lesion conspicuity, fewer artifacts, and better overall subjective image quality compared to readout-segmented DWI. Additionally, TSE DWI exhibited higher sensitivity and specificity for cholesteatoma detection.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NEURORADIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Peter Hunold, Andreas Michael Bucher, Joern Sandstede, Rolf Janka, Lars Benjamin Fritz, Marc Regier, Reinhard Loose, Joerg Barkhausen, Hans-Joachim Mentzel, Claus Zimmer, Gerald Antoch, Stefan O. Schoenberg, Frank Anton, Stefan Neumann, Thomas J. Vogl, Arnd Doerfler, Friederike Koerber, Johannes Wessling, Michael Wucherer, Horst Urbach, Marc A. Brockmann, Mirko Pham, Werner Weber, Ansgar Berlis, Hans-Joachim Mentzel, Thekla von Kalle, Dirk Klee, Gabriele Hahn, Janina Patsch
Summary: MRI is a complex and technically demanding diagnostic method in radiology, requiring physicians to have higher qualifications and expertise. In Germany, radiologists undergo systematic education in all aspects of MRI, while other physicians are increasingly conducting MRI examinations. Quality assurance and professional training are crucial for the quality and safety of MRI examinations.
ROFO-FORTSCHRITTE AUF DEM GEBIET DER RONTGENSTRAHLEN UND DER BILDGEBENDEN VERFAHREN
(2021)
Meeting Abstract
Rheumatology
M. Hagen, K. Tascilar, M. Reiser, L. Valor, J. Haschka, A. Kleyer, A. Hueber, B. Manger, J. Cobra, C. Figuereido, S. Finzel, H. P. Tony, J. Wendler, S. Kleinert, F. Schuch, M. Ronneberger, M. Feuchtenberger, M. Fleck, K. Manger, W. Ochs, M. Schmitt-Haendle, H. M. Lorenz, R. Alten, J. Henes, K. Krueger, J. Rech, G. Schett
ANNALS OF THE RHEUMATIC DISEASES
(2021)
Meeting Abstract
Rheumatology
M. Beck, A. Nieters, M. Rizzi, U. Salzer, J. Thiel, N. Venhoff, N. Peter, H. Eibel, R. Voll, S. Finzel
ANNALS OF THE RHEUMATIC DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Rheumatology
Rusmir Husic, Stephanie Finzel, Martin H. Stradner, Manuel Dreu, Alexander Hofmeister, Christine Beham-Schmid, Winfried B. Graninger, Johannes Fessler, Christian Dejaco
Summary: The study compared structural findings in people with OA of the hands using ultrasound, micro-CT, and histology. The sensitivity of ultrasound and micro-CT for detecting osteophytes was high, but low for detecting erosions compared to histology.
Article
Immunology
Anna-Lena Schaefer, Alexandra Eichhorst, Carolin Hentze, Antoine N. N. Kraemer, Anais Amend, Dalina T. L. Sprenger, Cara Fluhr, Stephanie Finzel, Christoph Daniel, Ulrich Salzer, Marta Rizzi, Reinhard E. Voll, Nina Chevalier
Summary: This study found that low fiber intake exacerbates disease progression in lupus-prone mice, microbiota suppression does not affect disease course as originally assumed, low fiber diet leads to increased white adipose tissue mass, fat inflammation and disrupted intestinal homeostasis, driving systemic low-grade inflammation and autoimmunity. The research highlights the overlooked effects of dietary fiber on energy homeostasis and obesity prevention, showing the complex interplay between inflammatory immune-mediated conditions such as obesity and autoimmunity.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Orthopedics
Goetz Hannes Welsch, Anna-Maria Behr, Karl-Heinz Frosch, Enver Tahir, Milena Pachowsky, Frank Oliver Henes, Gerhard Adam, Kai-Jonathan Maas, Malte Lennart Warncke
Summary: This study examined the reliability of semiquantitative knee MRI during the medical examination of professional soccer players, and its correlation with clinical data and missed days due to knee injury. The results showed that semiquantitative knee MRI is a robust method that can detect previous injuries and is correlated with days missed due to injury.
KNEE SURGERY SPORTS TRAUMATOLOGY ARTHROSCOPY
(2022)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Lisa C. Wegener, Felix Werner, Arnd Kleyer, David Simon, Michael Uder, Rolf Janka, Siegfried Trattnig, Goetz H. Welsch, Milena L. Pachowsky
Summary: In this study, quantitative MRI techniques were used to assess the relationship between tissue changes in intervertebral discs and clinical outcomes following kyphoplasty for vertebral fractures. The results showed that lower T2 values in adjacent discs were associated with poorer physical outcomes, indicating potential for using quantitative T2 mapping as a tool for evaluating tissue degeneration and its impact on patient quality of life post-kyphoplasty.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Marlene Stephan, Koray Tascilar, Melek Yalcin-Mutlu, Melanie Hagen, Judith Haschka, Michaela Reiser, Fabian Hartmann, Arnd Kleyer, Axel J. Hueber, Bernhard Manger, Camille Figueiredo, Jayme Fogagnolo Cobra, Hans-Peter Tony, Stephanie Finzel, Stefan Kleinert, Joerg Wendler, Florian Schuch, Monika Ronneberger, Martin Feuchtenberger, Martin Fleck, Karin Manger, Wolfgang Ochs, Matthias Schmitt-Haendle, Hannes Martin Lorenz, Hubert Nuesslein, Rieke Alten, Joerg Henes, Klaus Krueger, Georg Schett, Juergen Rech
Summary: Multiple studies have shown that tapering or stopping DMARDs in RA patients in sustained remission is possible, but this carries the risk of decline in physical function as the patients may relapse and face increased disease activity.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Rheumatology
Natalie Frede, Eva Rieger, Raquel Lorenzetti, Ana C. Venhoff, Anna-Maria Kanne, Stephanie Finzel, Ilona Jandova, Cornelia Glaser, Jens Thiel, Reinhard E. Voll, Nils Venhoff
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the sleep quality and quality of life in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and determine associated factors. Through questionnaire-based assessment and medical chart analysis, it was found that 46.6% of patients demonstrated abnormal sleep behavior. Further analysis showed that female patients had worse sleep quality, lower quality of life, and more depressive symptoms.