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  • Review Article
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Advances and challenges in imaging in juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 8, pages 329–336 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Imaging assessments of the joints of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are challenging, owing to the unique features of the growing skeleton. Traditionally, imaging studies in childhood arthritis have been based on conventional radiography. However, in the past few years, interest in the use of MRI and ultrasonography has increased. As a result, imaging has become a main area of clinical and research investigation in paediatric rheumatology. The chief advance in the field of conventional radiography has been the development and validation of paediatric scoring systems for the assessment of radiographic progression. Several studies have shown that MRI provides a precise quantification of synovitis in children with JIA. Furthermore, a high frequency of bone marrow oedema and bone erosions has been found early in the disease course. Ultrasonography has been proven to be superior to clinical examination in detecting synovitis, tenosynovitis and enthesitis. A high frequency of subclinical synovitis has been demonstrated in patients with JIA who have clinically inactive disease using both MRI and ultrasonography. However, more information from healthy children is needed to enable differentiation of the bone and cartilage abnormalities that reflect damage from those that are part of normal development using MRI or ultrasonography. This Review provides a summary of the current information on conventional radiography, ultrasonography and MRI in JIA and highlights the advantages and limitations of each imaging modality.

Key Points

  • Imaging studies are fundamental to investigate the extent and severity of joint disease, and to monitor treatment effectiveness in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)

  • Although conventional radiography remains the gold standard for the demonstration of erosive damage, it has poor sensitivity for the detection of active arthritis and generally detects changes late in the disease course

  • MRI provides a precise quantification of the extent of synovitis and can capture bone marrow oedema and erosions early in the disease course in children with chronic arthritis

  • Ultrasonography has been proven to be superior to clinical examination in detecting synovitis, tenosynovitis and enthesitis

  • A high frequency of subclinical synovitis in patients with JIA who have clinically inactive disease has been demonstrated using MRI and ultrasonography

  • Owing to the unique features of the growing skeleton, more information from healthy children is needed to define which bone and cartilage abnormalities on MRI and ultrasonography images are pathological

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Figure 1: Radiography in a child with JIA.
Figure 2: JIA synovitis on MRI image.
Figure 3: Ultrasonography of a healthy child.
Figure 4: Ultrasonography of the Achilles tendon.
Figure 5: Molecular analysis of cartilage matrix in early JIA using MRI.

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Change history

  • 19 April 2012

    In the version of this article initially published online the text "71% of ankles had tenosynovitis" was written as "71% of ankles had tenosynovitis alone". The error has been corrected for the print, HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Alberto Martini (Genoa, Italy) for his critical reading of the manuscript and Doctors Emilio Filippucci and Luca Di Geso (Jesi, Italy) for providing ultrasonography images.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatria Ospedaliera, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico Fondazione Policlinico S. Matteo, Viale Camillo Golgi 19, Pavia, 27100, Italy

    Silvia Magni-Manzoni & Stefano Lanni

  2. Pediatria II-Reumatologia, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico G. Gaslini, Largo G. Gaslini 5, Genova, 16147, Italy

    Clara Malattia & Angelo Ravelli

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Correspondence to Angelo Ravelli.

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Magni-Manzoni, S., Malattia, C., Lanni, S. et al. Advances and challenges in imaging in juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Nat Rev Rheumatol 8, 329–336 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2012.30

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