Vasculitis & polymyalgia rheumatica
MRI of shoulder girdle in polymyalgia rheumatica: inflammatory findings and their diagnostic value
Authors' conclusion
Contrast-enhanced MRI of the shoulder girdle is a reliable imaging tool with significant diagnostic value in the assessment of patients suffering from PMR and differentiation to other conditions for shoulder girdle pain.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with shoulder girdle pain undergoing contrast-enhanced MRI of the shoulder girdle
- Participants
- 496 MRI scans
- Comparison
- Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) vs non-PMR causes of shoulder girdle pain
- PMRn = 122
- Non-PMRn = 374reference
- Outcome
- Number of inflamed sites out of six predefined non-synovial sites and three synovial sites, and ability to differentiate PMR from non-PMR
Methodological detailsblinded image assessment by two radiologists, contrast-enhanced MRI
- Blinded image assessment by two radiologists
- Contrast-enhanced MRI
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Number of inflamed non-synovial sites (of six)
PMR
3.4
mean · SD 1.7
Non-PMR
1.1
mean · SD 1.4
P < 0.001
Further findings
Mean
| Outcome | PMR | Non-PMR |
|---|---|---|
| Number of synovial sites with synovitis (of three) | 2.5 (SD 0.8) | 1.9 (SD 1.1) |
- Diagnostic performance for PMR vs non-PMR: Inflammation at 3 of 6 non-synovial sites sensitivity 73.8% · specificity 85.8%
- Diagnostic performance for PMR vs non-PMR: Synovitis alone sensitivity 86.1% · specificity 36.1%
Number of synovial sites with synovitis (of three)
- Differed significantly, but with inferior discriminatory effect
Diagnostic performance for PMR vs non-PMR
- Non-synovial criterion had overall better performance than synovitis alone
Original publication
MRI of shoulder girdle in polymyalgia rheumatica: inflammatory findings and their diagnostic value. RMD Open. Published 9 May 2024. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →