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Synovium Impact of Rheumatoid Arthritis

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<v ->Now let's go ahead and look more

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at what happens to the synovium in rheumatoid.

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There are three particular findings

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that I'd like to concentrate on.

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The first is fatty infiltration.

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Let's call it secondary lipoma arborescens again.

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In common with osteoarthrosis

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indeed, one may get fatty infiltration

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into the synovial membrane in patients with rheumatoid

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as shown here, showing you areas of high signal.

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The second and perhaps most frequent

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is fibrovascular proliferation of the synovia.

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We get a feathery appearance with intermediate signal.

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As shown in this example.

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And the third are those fibrous nodules

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that we talked about earlier.

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We indicated that these generally do not enhance.

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They are low signal and they are well defined.

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As in this case, these are the rice bodies

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They can simulate cajal bodies within the joint.

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Here, a sagittal view of a glenohumeral joint.

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Now the distribution of abnormalities

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in rheumatoid arthritis is distinctive

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and differs from the distribution

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in other particular diseases.

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This was known with conventional radiography,

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and to be frank about it,

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that is the way I tell most articulate diseases apart

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by their distribution.

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In rheumatoid arthritis, early on,

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radiocarpal joint involvement is characteristic.

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This was a slide that was shown yesterday

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during the lectures and case discussion.

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But this is the characteristic involvement

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with extensive involvement of the distal ulna.

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And then over a short period of time,

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what I like to indicate

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is pretty much all of the compartments of the wrist

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are involved.

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Distal radioulnar, radiocarpal, midcarpal

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common carpal, metacarpal, intermetacarpal.

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First you can go on and on,

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pretty soon the disease involves

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all of the compartments of the wrist

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as in this case.

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When you look to the knee,

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the classic distribution of rheumatoid arthritis

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in the knee is symmetrical medial femoral tibial

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and lateral femoral tibial joint disease.

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With or without similar involvement

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of the patella femoral compartment.

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Here's an example by plain film.

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And I'm already showing you pretty symmetric changes

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in the knee on both the medial and lateral compartments.

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It was mentioned yesterday that we certainly

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can see subchrondal cysts in rheumatoid arthritis.

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A couple of things about 'em you should know.

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They're more common in men than women,

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more common in those people who are physically active

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and more common in the joints of the lower extremity.

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In my experience, the largest cysts are seen about the knee

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in the femur or tibia or in both bones,

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occasionally in the fibula.

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In this case, multiple, but in some cases,

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solitary looking like a bone tumor.

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This patient also had a popliteal ulnar cyst.

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Here's an example

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less likely you'll see these cysts being prominent

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in the upper extremity, but here's rheumatoid arthritis

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of the glenohumeral joint with cartilage loss,

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bone erosions,

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a large subchondral cyst with synovium within it

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in the humeral head.

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And I can tell you although it's not certain

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in these two images, but most of the time,

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cysts like this communicate with the joint

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and it's the synovium invading the bone.

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So, but occasionally, as I just mentioned,

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people believe it starts in the bone

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and then extends into the synovial membrane.

Report

Faculty

Donald Resnick, MD

Professor Emeritus, Department of Radiology

University of California, San Diego

Carlos H. Longo, MD

Head of Radiology

Hospital Beneficência Portuguesa de São Paulo

Abdalla Skaf, MD

Head of the Department of Diagnostic Imaging Hospital HCor / Medical director of ALTA diagnostics (DASA group)

HCOR / DASA / TELEIMAGEM

Rodrigo Aguiar, MD, PhD

Professor of Radiology

Federal University of Paraná - Brazil

Marcelo D’Abreu, MD

Head of Radiology

Hospital Mae de Deus

Tags

Shoulder

Musculoskeletal (MSK)

MSK

MRI

Knee

Hand & Wrist