Detection of Interstitial Lung Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis by Thoracic Ultrasound: A Diagnostic Test Accuracy Study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of thoracic ultrasound (TUS) for detecting interstitial lung disease (ILD) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with respiratory symptoms. METHODS: Individuals with RA visiting rheumatologic outpatient clinics in the Region of Southern Denmark were systematically screened for dyspnea, cough, recurrent pneumonia, prior severe pneumonia, or a chest x-ray indicating interstitial abnormalities. Eighty participants with a positive screening were consecutively included. Individuals were not eligible if they had a chest high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) less than 12 months ago or were already diagnosed with ILD. A blinded TUS expert evaluated TUS, and TUS was registered as positive for ILD if at least 10 B-lines or bilateral thickened and fragmented pleura were present. The primary outcomes were TUS's sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value and negative predictive value. An ILD-specialized thoracic radiologist assessed HRCT, followed by a multidisciplinary team discussion, which was the reference standard. The accepted window of HRCT was less than 30 days after TUS was performed. RESULTS: A total of 77 participants received HRCT less than 30 days after TUS, and 23 (30%) were diagnosed with ILD. TUS had a sensitivity of 82.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 61.2%-95.0%) and a specificity of 51.9% (95% CI 37.8%-65.7%), corresponding to a positive predictive value of 42.2% (95% CI 27.7%-57.8%) and a negative predictive value of 87.5% (95% CI 71.0%-96.5%). CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this prospective study is the first to use respiratory symptoms in RA as inclusion criteria. Systematic screening for respiratory symptoms combined with TUS can reduce the diagnostic delay of ILD in RA.

Synovial tissue research: a state-of-the-art review.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/nrrheum.2017.115.

Synovial tissue research: a state-of-the-art review.

The synovium is the major target tissue of inflammatory arthritides such as rheumatoid arthritis. The study of synovial tissue has advanced considerably throughout the past few decades from arthroplasty and blind needle biopsy to the use of arthroscopic and ultrasonographic technologies that enable easier visualization and improve the reliability of synovial biopsies. Rapid progress has been made in using synovial tissue to study disease pathogenesis, to stratify patients, to discover biomarkers and novel targets, and to validate therapies, and this progress has been facilitated by increasingly diverse and sophisticated analytical and technological approaches. In this Review, we describe these approaches, and summarize how their use in synovial tissue research has improved our understanding of rheumatoid arthritis and identified candidate biomarkers that could be used in disease diagnosis and stratification, as well as in predicting disease course and treatment response.

Corrigendum: Synovial tissue research: a state-of-the-art review.

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1038/nrrheum.2017.115.