Clinical utility of quantitative analysis of bone scintigraphy in detecting clinically active joint and high disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of quantitative parameters of bone scintigraphy in detecting clinically active joint and high disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Methods We retrospectively enrolled 65 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who underwent bone scintigraphy for diagnostic work-up. Quantitative analysis of bone scintigraphy images was conducted using an in-house software, and joint uptake ratio of 28 joints was measured for the calculation of the disease activity score of 28 joints using erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR). The relationship between joint uptake ratio and clinical findings and the efficiency of joint uptake ratio in detecting clinically active joint and high disease activity were assessed. Results Clinically active joint (tender and/or swollen joints) showed significantly higher joint uptake ratio than did other non-affected joints ( p  < 0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value (NPV) of joint uptake ratio for identifying clinically active joint were 78.7%, 52.0%, 32.9%, and 89.1%, respectively, and those of the summed joint uptake ratio for detecting high disease activity were 92.9%, 66.8%, 43.3%, and 97.1%, respectively; the joint uptake ratio showed high detection ability, especially for active joints of the elbow, wrist, and metacarpo-phalangeal joint areas. The summed joint uptake ratio of 28 joints showed a significantly strong positive correlation with DAS28-ESR ( p  < 0.001; correlation coefficient, 0.725). Conclusion Quantitative parameters of bone scintigraphy showed high sensitivity and NPV for detecting clinically active joint and high disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

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