Objectives: As therapeutic modalities for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) advance, immediate and quantitative determination of RA disease status is becoming increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to validate ...Objectives: As therapeutic modalities for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) advance, immediate and quantitative determination of RA disease status is becoming increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to validate the usefulness of a ring gauge as a simple semiquantitative method for assessing hand swelling in patients with RA. Methods: We enrolled patients diagnosed with RA either initiated or switched to a biological therapeutic agent. The circumference of the interphalangeal (IP) joint and the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint was measured using a ring gauge. Assessments of the joint echocardiography, incorporating both Gray Scale (GS) and Power Doppler (PD) imaging, were conducted. These evaluations were performed both before the initiation of biological agent treatment and 28 days after the initial dose. Results: Following the treatment intervention, a significant reduction was observed in the circumference of the joint from the thumb to the little finger (p Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of using a ring gauge as a simple assessment tool for RA, revealing that a change in the ring gauge number by 2 or more corresponded to either improvement or deterioration in synovial thickening detected via joint echocardiography.展开更多
Objective: Early and accurate evaluation of the presence and activity of synovitis is extremely important in the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Myeloid related protein 8/14 (MRP8/14), also known as c...Objective: Early and accurate evaluation of the presence and activity of synovitis is extremely important in the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Myeloid related protein 8/14 (MRP8/14), also known as calprotectin or S100A8/A9 is considered as a sensitive marker for local inflammatory activity in rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy of MRP8/14 as a marker of disease activity in RA. Methods: Thirty-one patients with diagnosis of RA who received treatment without biological drugs at our institution were included in this study. Serum MRP8/14, CRP and MMP-3 were tested in all patients. Disease activity was evaluated using DAS28-CRP and SDAI. Ultrasonography was performed on the wrists and MCP joints of both hands using semi-quantitative scale of power Doppler signal. The sum of scales in joints was calculated as the PD score. The correlation of MRP8/14 with serum biomarkers, disease activity and ultrasonography examination was investigated. Result: Serum MRP8/14 was strongly correlated with CRP (r = 0.63) and MMP-3 (r = 0.69). A correlation was observed between serum MRP8/14 and DAS28-CRP (r = 0.53) and SDAI (r = 0.66). No significant correlation was found between PD scores and MRP8/14. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that MRP8/14 is correlated with evaluated disease activity and markers of serum inflammatory response in patients not using biological drugs. MRP8/14 is considered an effective new method for objective evaluation of synovitis in RA.展开更多
文摘Objectives: As therapeutic modalities for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) advance, immediate and quantitative determination of RA disease status is becoming increasingly important. The purpose of this study was to validate the usefulness of a ring gauge as a simple semiquantitative method for assessing hand swelling in patients with RA. Methods: We enrolled patients diagnosed with RA either initiated or switched to a biological therapeutic agent. The circumference of the interphalangeal (IP) joint and the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint was measured using a ring gauge. Assessments of the joint echocardiography, incorporating both Gray Scale (GS) and Power Doppler (PD) imaging, were conducted. These evaluations were performed both before the initiation of biological agent treatment and 28 days after the initial dose. Results: Following the treatment intervention, a significant reduction was observed in the circumference of the joint from the thumb to the little finger (p Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of using a ring gauge as a simple assessment tool for RA, revealing that a change in the ring gauge number by 2 or more corresponded to either improvement or deterioration in synovial thickening detected via joint echocardiography.
文摘Objective: Early and accurate evaluation of the presence and activity of synovitis is extremely important in the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Myeloid related protein 8/14 (MRP8/14), also known as calprotectin or S100A8/A9 is considered as a sensitive marker for local inflammatory activity in rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the efficacy of MRP8/14 as a marker of disease activity in RA. Methods: Thirty-one patients with diagnosis of RA who received treatment without biological drugs at our institution were included in this study. Serum MRP8/14, CRP and MMP-3 were tested in all patients. Disease activity was evaluated using DAS28-CRP and SDAI. Ultrasonography was performed on the wrists and MCP joints of both hands using semi-quantitative scale of power Doppler signal. The sum of scales in joints was calculated as the PD score. The correlation of MRP8/14 with serum biomarkers, disease activity and ultrasonography examination was investigated. Result: Serum MRP8/14 was strongly correlated with CRP (r = 0.63) and MMP-3 (r = 0.69). A correlation was observed between serum MRP8/14 and DAS28-CRP (r = 0.53) and SDAI (r = 0.66). No significant correlation was found between PD scores and MRP8/14. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that MRP8/14 is correlated with evaluated disease activity and markers of serum inflammatory response in patients not using biological drugs. MRP8/14 is considered an effective new method for objective evaluation of synovitis in RA.