Role of Ultrasound for Evaluating Rheumatoid Arthritis in Remission

Overview

The objective of this study is to determine the longitudinal relation between clinical remission and ultrasound (US) remission in Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). At a patient level, US-detected residual synovitis (evaluated both by US grey-scale signals and power Doppler signals) is frequent in patients with RA in clinical remission. Several longitudinal studies reveal an association of US-detected residual synovitis and risk of relapse and radiographic progression, in individual patients and joints, over 1-2 years. However, the longitudinal relation between clinical remission and US remission is not so well-known and it is possible that clinical remission arrive before ultrasound remission. Thus arise the question as to whether the presence of US-detected residual synovitis require to adapt the treatment to ultrasound findings or to simply increase the patient care. The investigator propose to conduct a prospective, bi-center, non randomized study.

The study population will include all RA patient at least 18 years old in clinical remission for less than 6 month. The primary endpoint (ability of US-detected residual synovitis to predict relapse or radiographic progression in individual patients and joints) will be evaluated afer 12 months of follow-up The total follow-up will be 12 months with a follow-up every 3 months. In addition to the standard care, each follow-up will include an ultrasound examination of 40 joints and 8 tendons

Conditions