Evaluation of tocilizumab therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis based on FDG-PET/CT

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Research Article

Tetsuya Higuchi¹  Yoshito Tsushima¹  Kenji Takagishi²  Koichi Okamura²  Yukio Yonemoto²  Chisa Okura² 

[1] Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan;Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-39-22, Showamachi, 371-8511, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan;

关键词: Rheumatoid arthritis;    Interleukin-6;    Positron emission tomography;    SUV;    Synovitis;    Tocilizumab;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2474-15-393

 received in 2014-10-25, accepted in 2014-11-07,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPositron emission tomography (PET) with 2-[18F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG) can detect the presence of synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the findings of FDG-PET matched the conventional assessments of the disease activity score (DAS) 28, DAS28-CRP, simplified disease activity index (SDAI) and clinical disease activity index (CDAI) in RA patients receiving tocilizumab (TCZ) therapy.MethodsSeventeen RA patients treated with TCZ were assessed. FDG-PET was performed at baseline and three and six months after the initiation of TCZ therapy. The maximum SUV (SUVmax) of the bilateral shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle joints were added together (total SUV) and were used to assess the degree of FDG uptake as a representative parameter. The correlations between the ΔSUV and the difference in the clinical parameters at baseline and at each observation period, and the differences in each clinical parameters, were assessed.ResultsThe ΔSUV, the differences in the total SUV at baseline and at three/six months after starting treatment positively correlated with the ΔDAS28 (r = 0.615 p = 0.009/ r = 0.775 p < 0.001), ΔDAS28-CRP (r = 0.696, p = 0.002/ r = 0.828, p < 0.001), ΔSDAI (r = 0.652, p = 0.005/ r = 0.686, p = 0.002) and ΔCDAI (r = 0.662, p = 0.004/ r = 0.711, p = 0.001) for each period. The total SUV was significantly decreased at three and six months after the initiation of TCZ (p < 0.05).ConclusionsA reduction in the FDG uptake was observed at three and six months after the initiation of TCZ therapy. The disease activity estimated on FDG-PET/CT matched the conventional parameters following the TCZ therapy in RA patients.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Okamura et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014