Key clinical point: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-detected tenosynovitis is highly predictive of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), irrespective of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) status.
Major finding: The sensitivity of imaging-detected tenosynovitis was high for both, ACPA-positive RA (88%) and ACPA-negative RA (82%). The sensitivity of MRI-detected tenosynovitis for RA was significantly higher than that for psoriatic arthritis (65%; P = .001), peripheral spondylarthritis (53%; P less than .001), reactive arthritis (36%; P less than .001), and self-limiting undifferentiated arthritis (42%; P less than .001).
Study details: The data come from a large cross-sectional MRI study of 1,211 consecutive patients with early arthritis who underwent contrast-enhanced 1.5T MRI of hand and foot at diagnosis.
Disclosures: The study received funding from the Dutch Arthritis Foundation and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Source: Matthijssen XME et al. Ann Rheum Dis. 2021 Feb 5. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-219302.