Table 1.
Disease activity, imaging and histopathology baseline and 6 months
| ERA group | Control group* | |||||
| Visit Baseline |
Visit 3months |
Visit 6months |
P value† | Baseline | P value‡ | |
| N | 20 | 19 | 20 | 16 | ||
| DAS28CRP, mean (SD) | 5.2 (1.0) | 2.9 (1.2) | 2.7 (1.1) | < 0.001 | ||
| CRP, mean (SD) | 20.4 (19.8) | 12.0 (13.7) | 8.7 (12.8) | 0.01 | 1.8 (2.3) | < 0.001 |
| Wrist Larsen score, mean (SD) | 0.3 (0.7) | 0.3 (0.8) | 0.91 | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.09 | |
| US EULAR-OMERACT score | ||||||
| Radiocarpal intercarpal joints combined score (0–3) | 2.1 (0.8) | 1.9 (0.7) | 1.6 (0.6) | 0.07 | ||
| SH score (0–3) | 1.9 (0.8) | 1.9 (0.7) | 1.6 (0.6) | 0.17 | ||
| CD score (0–3) | 1.7 (1.0) | 1.2 (0.9) | 1.0 (0.7) | 0.001 | ||
| MRI RAMRIS score | ||||||
| Radiocarpal joint | ||||||
| Synovitis (0–3)§ | 1.1 (0.9) | 0.8 (0.5) | 0.02 | 0.3 (0.5) | 0.003 | |
| Bone erosions (0–10) | 0.2 (0.4) | 0.1 (0.4) | 1.00 | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.08 | |
| Bone oedema (0–3) | 0.1 (0.3) | 0.1 (0.2) | 0.31 | 0.00 (0.00) | 0.16 | |
| Synovial biopsy Krenn score |
||||||
| Lining cell layer, mean (SD) | 2.1 (0.8) | 1.8 (0.7) | 0.19 | 1.6 (0.9) | 0.09 | |
| Stromal activation, mean (SD) | 2.1 (0.6) | 1.6 (0.6) | 0.02 | 1.4 (0.6) | 0.002 | |
| Infiltrates, mean (SD) | 1.9 (0.7) | 1.6 (0.8) | 0.27 | 1.3 (0.6) | 0.02 | |
| Total score, mean (SD) | 6.0 (1.5) | 5.0 (1.5) | 0.01 | 4.2 (1.7) | 0.002 | |
| Specific markers | ||||||
| CD20, mean (SD) | 1.2 (1.1) | 0.8 (09) | 0.06 | 0.3 (0.5) | 0.001 | |
| CD3, mean (SD) | 2.0 (1.2) | 1.9 (0.9) | 0.70 | 0.7 (0.7) | < 0.001 | |
| CD68, mean (SD) | 2.8 (0.9) | 2.4 (0.8) | 0.19 | 1.6 (0.8) | < 0.001 | |
| CD138, mean (SD) | 1.3 (1.2) | 1.1 (0.9) | 0.45 | 0.3 (0.6) | 0.002 | |
| LRA group | ||||||
| DAS28CRP, mean (SD) | 4.3 (0.6) | 3.2 (1.0) | 2.6 (1.1) | < 0.001 | ||
| CRP, mean (SD) | 15.6 (18.9) | 10.3 (11.4) | 10.3 (16.3) | 0.08 | 1.8 (2.2) | 0.002 |
| Wrist Larsen score, mean (SD) | 3.7 (5.5) | 3.7 (5.6) | 0.49 | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.006 | |
| US EULAR-OMERACT score | ||||||
| Radiocarpal intercarpal joints combined score (0–3) | 2.3 (0.8) | 2.1 (0.9) | 1.9 (0.8) | 0.17 | ||
| SH (0–3) | 2.1 (0.8) | 2.0 (0.9) | 1.9 (0.8) | 0.24 | ||
| CD (0–3) | 2.0 (1.0) | 1.6 (1.0) | 1.3 (1.1) | 0.02 | ||
| MRI RAMRIS score | ||||||
| Radiocarpal joint | ||||||
| Synovitis (0–3) | 2.0 (1.2) | 0.3 (0.5) | < 0.001 | |||
| Bone erosions (0–10) | 1.2 (1.3) | 0.0 (0.0) | < 0.001 | |||
| Bone oedema (0–3) | 0.3 (0.7) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.08 | |||
| Synovial biopsy Krenn score |
||||||
| Lining cell layer, mean (SD) | 2.3 (0.8) | 2.1 (0.8) | 0.24 | 1.6 (0.9) | 0.01 | |
| Stromal activation, mean (SD) | 2.2 (0.8) | 1.9 (0.7) | 0.27 | 1.4 (0.6) | 0.003 | |
| Infiltrates, mean (SD) | 2.2 (0.7) | 2.2 (0.5) | 0.77 | 1.3 (0.6) | < 0.001 | |
| Total score, mean (SD) | 6.8 (1.9) | 6.1 (1.6) | 0.17 | 4.2 (1.7) | < 0.001 | |
| Specific markers | ||||||
| CD20, mean (SD) | 1.8 (1.5) | 1.5 (1.2) | 0.40 | 0.3 (0.5) | < 0.001 | |
| CD3, mean (SD) | 2.5 (1.2) | 2.2 (1.0) | 0.48 | 0.8 (0.7) | < 0.001 | |
| CD68, mean (SD) | 3.0 (0.7) | 2.8 (0.8) | 0.39 | 1.6 (0.8) | < 0.001 | |
| CD138, mean (SD) | 2.1 (1.2) | 2.0 (1.3) | 0.74 | 0.3 (0.6) | < 0.001 | |
Significant p values in bold.
*Six patients in control group had MRI without contrast.
†Test for trend.
‡P value. The same control group values versus, respectively, ERA and LRA baseline.
§One in ERA group, no MRI due to claustrophobia.
CD, colour Doppler; CRP, C-reactive protein; DAS28CRP, disease activity score in 28 joints with CRP level included; ERA, early rheumatoid arthritis; LRA, long-standing rheumatoid arthritis; SH, synovial hypertrophy.