Changes of DCE‐MRI Parameters in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis before and after Therapy and Their Value for the Efficacy Evaluation of Patients

OBJECTIVE: To explore the changes of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) parameters in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before and after therapy and their value for the efficacy evaluation of patients. METHODS: Totally, 90 patients with RA confirmed in our hospital between January 2018 and January 2020 were enrolled. All of them were examined with a Siemens Magnetom Avanto 1.5T imaging system, and data about the rate of enhancement in early stage (REE) and steep slope maximum (SSmax) were obtained. Then, the disease activity score in 28 joints (DAS-28), REE, and SSmax were analyzed, and the associations of SSmax and REE with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and DAS-28 were investigated. Additionally, the patients were assigned to the acute-stage group and the chronic-stage group according to their time-signal intensity curves after therapy, and the two groups were compared in SSmax, REE, ESR, CRP, and DAS-28. Corresponding receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn for the analysis of potential markers for efficacy improvement in patients. RESULTS: After therapy, REE, SSmax, ESR, DAS-28, and CRP in the synovium of all patients declined greatly (all P < 0.05), with higher levels observed in the acute-stage group than those in the chronic-stage group (all P < 0.05). SSmax and REE of patients were positively bound up with their ESR, CRP, and DAS-28 (all P < 0.05). Additionally, according to ROC curve-based analysis, both SSmax and REE can be adopted as biological indexes for distinguishing between patients at the acute phase from those at the chronic stage, and joint detection of them can boost the sensitivity of DAS-28. CONCLUSION: The SSmax and REE levels in RA patients after treatment were significantly decreased, and the levels in patients in the chronic phase were lower than those in patients in the acute phase. SSmax and REE are highly expressed in RA patients, and the combined detection can enhance the value of DAS-28 in the assessment of RA, and it is worthy of clinical promotion.