The assessment of rheumatoid arthritis and other arthropathies through power Doppler and superb microvascular imaging: is there any difference?
Author Block: P. Del Nido Recio, J. D. Aquerreta, A. Paternain Nuin, M. R. López De La Torre Carretero, M. Jiménez Vázquez, C. Mbongo, C. Urtasun Iriarte, D. A. Zambrano, M. B. Barrio Piqueras; Pamplona/ES
Purpose: This study aims to analyze whether the upgrade Doppler activity, when comparing SMI and PD, is significantly different in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), compared to other arthropathies.
Methods or Background: Between May 2023 and April 2024, we prospectively analyzed a cohort of 57 joints of 21 different patients. Most of them were previously diagnosed with RA and other arthropathies, such as Osteoarthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Gout, etc. PD and SMI imaging were obtained in all joints and the individual grades for Doppler Activity were registered for each joint with active synovitis, raging from 0 to 3, according to the EULAR - OMERACT US Score. Mann-Whitney U test was applied to calculate means in independent samples. Two-tailed p-values of <0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results or Findings: 21 joints of 8 patients with RA and 36 joints of 13 patients with other arthropathies were studied. Metacarpophalangeal joints were the most frequently analyzed in the RA group (11), and interphalangeal joints were the most frequently analyzed in the other group (18). When comparing Doppler activity, the mean PD was significantly higher in the RA group compared to the other group (1.14 vs. 0.75, p = 0.043). When upgrading the Doppler activity with SMI, we did not find statistically significant differences (2.52 vs 2.69, p = 1.04). Nevertheless, when comparing the mean of the difference between SMI and PD, it was significantly lower in the RA group (1.38 vs. 1.94, p = 0.016).
Conclusion: Our results indicate that a higher upgrade between PD and SMI exams is more likely seen in arthropathies such as oligoarthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis or Gout, rather than in RA.
Limitations: The number of patients.
Interobserver variability.
The degree of arthritis and type of treatment.
Funding for this study: No funding was received for this study.
Has your study been approved by an ethics committee? Not applicable
Ethics committee - additional information: The study received institutional review board approval and written informed consent was obtained from all participants