ArticleAnnals of the rheumatic diseases2018
Are MRI-detected erosions specific for RA? A large explorative cross-sectional study.
Article in Annals of the rheumatic diseases, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Do MRI-detected erosions in the RA-risk phase of arthralgia reflect current or imminent radiographic erosions? A large longitudinal imaging study.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Case report: Joint deformity associated with systemic lupus erythematosus.Immunity, inflammation and disease · 2022Article
- The value of MRI for detecting subclinical joint inflammation in clinically suspect arthralgia.RMD open · 2022Review
- Bone erosions by MRI in first-degree relatives of patients with RA: an exploratory study.Clinical rheumatology · 2022Article
- Identification of poor prognostic joint locations in an early rheumatoid arthritis cohort at risk of rapidly progressing disease: a post-hoc analysis of the Phase III AGREE study.BMC rheumatology · 2022Article
- Walking Disabilities in Association With Tenosynovitis at the Metatarsophalangeal Joints: A Longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study in Early Arthritis.Arthritis care & research · 2022Article
- The Differential Effect of Antibodies on Radiographic Progression in Rheumatoid Arthritis.Mediterranean journal of rheumatology · 2020Article
- Do magnetic resonance imaging-detected erosions predict progression to rheumatoid arthritis in patients presenting with clinically suspect arthralgia? A longitudinal study.Scandinavian journal of rheumatology · 2020Article
- Ultrasonography supplements clinical exam to improve early rheumatoid arthritis disease activity monitoring in metatarsophalangeal joints.Clinical rheumatology · 2020Article
- Rheumatoid Arthritis and Tenosynovitis at the Metatarsophalangeal Joints: An Anatomic and MRI Study of the Forefoot Tendon Sheaths.Radiology · 2020Article
- Pseudoerosions of Hands and Feet in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Anatomic Concepts and Redefinition.Journal of clinical medicine · 2019Article
- Characteristics of Accelerated Hand Osteoarthritis: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.The Journal of rheumatology · 2019Article
- The value of the simplified RAMRIS-5 in early RA patients under methotrexate therapy using high-field MRI.Arthritis research & therapy · 2019Article
- Evaluation of the predictive accuracy of MRI-detected erosions in hand and foot joints in patients with undifferentiated arthritis.Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesMRI is recommended in the diagnostic process of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to detect joint damage early. MRI-detected erosions are also present in symptom-free controls, especially at older age. It is unclear if RA-specific MRI-detected erosions can be distinguished from 'physiological' erosions in symptom-free individuals. This study compared MRI-detected erosions of patients with RA with healthy controls and with other arthritides.
methods589 newly presenting patients with early arthritis (238 RA, 351 other arthritides) and 193 symptom-free controls underwent contrast-enhanced 1.5T MRI of unilateral metacarpophalangeal and metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints. Total erosion score (according to the Rheumatoid Arthritis MRI Scoring System), number, severity, location of erosions and simultaneous presence of MRI-detected inflammation (synovitis and/or bone marrow oedema) were compared; participants were categorised in three age groups (<40, 40-59, ≥60).
resultsPatients with RA had statistically significant higher total erosion scores than controls but scores of individual persons largely overlapped. Grade ≥2 erosions and MTP5 erosions were specific for RA (specificity 98%-100% and 90%-98% for different age groups). MTP1 erosions were only specific if aged <40 (specificity 98%) and erosions with inflammation if aged <60 (specificity 91%-100%). ≥1 of the mentioned erosion characteristics were present in 29% of patients with RA. Comparing patients with RA with other arthritides revealed that grade ≥2 erosions and MTP5 erosions remained specific for RA (specificity ≥89%) as well as MTP1 erosions if aged <40 (specificity 93%), in contrast to erosions combined with inflammation (specificity 49%-85%).
conclusionsTotal erosion scores of individual persons were largely overlapping. Erosion characteristics specific for RA were identified, but were infrequently present. Caution is needed not to overestimate the value of MRI erosions in the diagnostic process.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.