TY - JOUR
T1 - After treat-to-target
T2 - can a targeted ultrasound initiative improve RA outcomes?
AU - Wakefield, Richard J
AU - D'Agostino, Maria Antonietta
AU - Naredo, Esperanza
AU - Buch, Maya H
AU - Iagnocco, Annamaria
AU - Terslev, Lene
AU - Østergaard, Mikkel
AU - Backhaus, Marina
AU - Grassi, Walter
AU - Dougados, Maxime
AU - Burmester, Gerd R
AU - Saleem, Benazir
AU - de Miguel, Eugenio
AU - Estrach, Cristina
AU - Ikeda, Kei
AU - Gutierrez, Marwin
AU - Thompson, Eric Robert
AU - Balint, Peter
AU - Emery, Paul
PY - 2012/6
Y1 - 2012/6
N2 - For patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), remission can be achieved with tight control of inflammation and early use of disease modifying agents. The importance of remission as an outcome has been recently highlighted by European League Against Rheumatism recommendations. However, remission when defined by clinical remission criteria (disease activity score, simplified disease activity index, etc) does not always equate to the complete absence of inflammation as measured by new sensitive imaging techniques such as ultrasound (US) . There is evidence that imaging synovitis is frequently found in these patients and associated with adverse clinical and functional outcomes. This article reviews the data regarding remission, ultrasound imaging and outcomes in patients with RA to provide the background to a consensus statement from an international collaboration of ultrasonographers and rheumatologists who have recently formed a research network--the Targeted Ultrasound Initiative (TUI) group. The statement proposes that targeting therapy to PD activity provides superior outcomes compared with treating to clinical targets alone and introduces the rationale for a new randomised trial using targeted ultrasound in RA.
AB - For patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), remission can be achieved with tight control of inflammation and early use of disease modifying agents. The importance of remission as an outcome has been recently highlighted by European League Against Rheumatism recommendations. However, remission when defined by clinical remission criteria (disease activity score, simplified disease activity index, etc) does not always equate to the complete absence of inflammation as measured by new sensitive imaging techniques such as ultrasound (US) . There is evidence that imaging synovitis is frequently found in these patients and associated with adverse clinical and functional outcomes. This article reviews the data regarding remission, ultrasound imaging and outcomes in patients with RA to provide the background to a consensus statement from an international collaboration of ultrasonographers and rheumatologists who have recently formed a research network--the Targeted Ultrasound Initiative (TUI) group. The statement proposes that targeting therapy to PD activity provides superior outcomes compared with treating to clinical targets alone and introduces the rationale for a new randomised trial using targeted ultrasound in RA.
U2 - 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-201048
DO - 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-201048
M3 - Review
C2 - 22562979
SN - 0003-4967
VL - 71
SP - 799
EP - 803
JO - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
JF - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
IS - 6
ER -