TY - JOUR T1 - Prospective, simultaneous assessment of joint and vascular inflammation by PET/CT in tofacitinib-treated patients with rheumatoid arthritis: associations with vascular and bone status JF - RMD Open JO - RMD Open DO - 10.1136/rmdopen-2021-001804 VL - 7 IS - 3 SP - e001804 AU - Attila Hamar AU - Zsolt Hascsi AU - Anita Pusztai AU - Monika Czókolyová AU - Edit Végh AU - Zsófia Pethő AU - Katalin Gulyás AU - Boglárka Soós AU - György Kerekes AU - Éva Szekanecz AU - Katalin Hodosi AU - Sándor Szántó AU - Gabriella Szűcs AU - Tamás Seres AU - Zoltán Szekanecz AU - Szilvia Szamosi Y1 - 2021/11/01 UR - http://rmdopen.bmj.com/content/7/3/e001804.abstract N2 - Key messagesWhat is already known about this subject?18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission/CT (18FDG-PET/CT) is able to detect both synovial and vascular inflammation underlying rheumatoid arthritis (RA).What does this study add?This is the very first study where synovial and vascular inflammation were assessed by PET/CT in patients with RA undergoing tofacitinib therapy.One-year tofacitinib treatment significantly attenuated vascular and synovial inflammations.Joint and vascular inflammations as determined by PET/CT exerted multiple correlations with autoantibodies, systemic inflammation, lipids, carotid atherosclerosis and arterial stiffness.How might this impact on clinical practice or further developments?. Please check and provide13F-FDG-PET/CT may be a suitable technique to determine synovial and vascular inflammation simultaneously and to do follow-up assessments during targeted therapies of RA.Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with accelerated atherosclerosis, increased cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality, as well as metabolic changes.1 2 Targeted therapies may have beneficial effects on CV outcomes1 3 4 and metabolism2 5 in RA. Four Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors including tofacitinib have been approved for RA.6 JAK inhibition has been associated with lipid elevation7; however, it had no CV consequences.1 7Vascular inflammation may precede atherosclerosis. Traditionally, ultrasound-based techniques have been applied to assess preclinical vascular pathophysiology in RA.1 8 Early endothelial dysfunction indicated by abnormal brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), overt atherosclerosis shown by the presence of carotid plaques and increased common carotid intima–media thickness (IMT), as well as arterial stiffness indicated by increased arterial pulse-wave velocity (PWV) have been reported in association with RA.1 8–11 These preclinical abnormalities predict the development of subsequent CV events in arthritis.1 8 Biologics may, at least transiently, dampen the progression of abnormal FMD, IMT and PWV in RA (reviewed in Szekanecz et al3). There has been only one study showing that tofacitinib decreased carotid atherosclerosis.1218F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/CT (18F-FDG-PET/CT) may be able to simultaneously detect tissue inflammation all over the … ER -