The predictive value of dynamic enhanced MRI time-intensity curve in rheumatoid arthritis coversion from undifferentiated arthritis

LI Huixia; AN Yingying; LEI Xinwei

doi:10.19300/j.2018.L4664

Abstract：Objective To investigate the predictive value of dynamic enhanced MRI time-intensity curve in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) conversion from undifferentiated arthritis (UA). Methods We analyzed the baseline data of dy-namic enhanced MRI in 61 patients (female n=53, male n=8;age range 22-68 years old, mean age 49.93 ±10.27 years old, median disease history 2.7 months, range 7 d-12 months) with UA from January 2014 to August 2015 in the Department of Immunology of Tianjin First Center Hospital. After 1 year follow-up, 25 cases converted to RA, 22 cases were clinically diag-nosed non-RA. The student's t-test or Wilcoxon Rank-Sum Test for two independent samples were used to compare the dif-ference in each time-intensity curve index between the two groups. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analy-sis was carried out to test the diagnostic value of each index. Results The relative enhancement (RELENH), maximum rela tive enhancement (MAXRELENH), maximum enhancement (MAXENH), wash in rate (WASHIN), area under the curve (AREACURV) were significantly higher in the RA than in the non-RA group (P<0.001). The time to peak(TTP) did not sig-nificantly differ between the two groups (P>0.05). The areas under the ROC curve of RELENH, MAXRELENH, MAXENH, WASHIN, and AREACURV were 0.838, 0.829, 0.855, 0.955, and 0.864, respectively;the sensitivities were 92.0％, 92.0％, 88.0％, 92.0％, and 96.0％, respectively;and the specificities were 77.3％, 77.3％, 81.8％, 86.4％, and 68.2％, respectively. Therefore, the area under the ROC curve of WASHIN was the highest, and the sensitivity of AREACURV was the highest in the five indexes. Conclusion RELENH, MAXRELENH, MAXENH, WASHIN, and AREACURV of dynamic enhanced MR time-intensity curve had high clinical value to predict the conversion from UA to RA, and had important guiding significance for clinical early diagnosis and early treatment.