Ultrasonographic findings of rheumatoid arthritis patients who are in clinical remission

Abstract

Background: Te aim of this study was to recognize the fndings of  ultrasonography (US) in remitted rheumatic arthritis (RA) patients for detection subclinical arthritis. Materials and Methods: Tis descriptive study was conducted during 2016 in a rheumatology center. A total of 70 patients with remitted RA were included in the study. Sonography was performed on all 70 patients who did not show any clinical arthritis in clinical examination to fnd synovitis and e?usion were evaluated with gray scale and hyperemia
with power Doppler US. Results: Nearly 44.3% (n = 31) of our patients had positive sonography results including 20% synovitis, 21.4% hyperemia, and 18.6% (n = 13) e?usion. A total of 1960 joints of 70 patients were evaluated, in which 3.2% (n = 63) of joints had positive sonography fndings including 1.2% synovitis, 1.5% hyperemia, and 1.1  with e?usion. Conclusion: US can diagnosis subclinical arthritis in patients with remitted RA who does not show any joint involvement in clinical examination.