During development of rheumatoid arthritis, intermetatarsal bursitis may occur before clinical joint swelling: a large imaging study in patients with clinically suspect arthralgia.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Intermetatarsal bursitis (IMB) represents juxta-articular synovial inflammation of the intermetatarsal bursae. Recent MRI studies identified IMB as feature of early RA, but whether IMB already occurs in the pre-arthritic phase is unknown. We performed a large MRI study in clinically suspect arthralgia (CSA) to assess the occurrence and prognostic value of IMB.

Methods

A total of 577 consecutive CSA patients underwent contrast-enhanced MRI of the forefoot, metacarpophalangeal joints and wrist. MRIs were evaluated for subclinical synovitis/tenosynovitis/osteitis in line with the RA MRI scoring system (summed as RAMRIS inflammation) and for IMB. IMB was considered present if uncommon in the general population at the same location (i.e. size scored above the 95th perc

SUBMITTER: van Dijk BT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9258544 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature