From Psoriasis to Psoriatic Arthritis: Insights from Imaging on the Transition to Psoriatic Arthritis and Implications for Arthritis Prevention

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To describe the recent advances in the field towards the prevention and early recognition of Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA). RECENT FINDINGS: Defining the preclinical phase of PsA remains challenging since up to 50% of subjects with psoriasis have subclinical imaging enthesopathy, but many of these do not progress to PsA. Nevertheless, there is evidence that subjects with subclinical imaging enthesopathy are at increased risk of developing PsA. In recent years, it has been shown that both PsA and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are characterized by a subclinical phase of non-specific or brief duration arthralgia with shared imaging features accounting for joint symptomatology. Sonographically determined tenosynovitis and enthesitis are the key imaging features present in non-specific PsO arthralgia that are at risk of future PsA development. Furthermore, the early phases of PsA are complicated by factors including body mass index (BMI), which is a risk factor for PsA, but BMI is also associated with imaging abnormalities on enthesopathy. Fully disentangling these clinical and imaging factors will be important for enrichment for imminent PsA so that disease prevention strategies can be investigated. SUMMARY: Psoriasis patients with arthralgia have a higher prevalence of tenosynovitis and imaging enthesopathy is at higher risk of transitioning to overt PsA.