Both the fields of rheumatology and radiology are changing rapidly.Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic disease of unknown origin that predominantly involvessynovial tissue. MRI plays an important role in RA, providing diagnostic and prognostic information. MRI can visualize both the inflammation and the structural damage in RA patients.
Aim of study: to evaluate the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the hand and wrist joints in assessment of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Subjects and methods: The study was carried out on 30 patients who had polyarthralgia and were diagnosed RA on the basis of clinical and laboratory findings.
Results:The study showed prevalence of carpal erosions on MR images was most frequent in the capitate bone (40%) followed by lunate bone (30%)and the triquetrum bone (26.6%).Also study showed that 93.3% of the whole patients had synovitis, 86.6 % showed Synovitis in the ulnocarpal joints, 80 % showed Synovitis in the intercarpal joints, and 60 % showed Synovitis in the radiocarpal joint .Bone marrow edema was found in 60% of the whole study population. Of them 33.3% had lunate bone edema, 23.3 % had triquetrum bone edema, and 20% had capitate bone edema.
Conclusion: The MRI criteria for detecting active synovitis was more sensitive than the criteria of physical examination findings used to detect inflammatory changes in the hand.
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