Treatment decisions in patients with spondyloarthritis increasingly involve the use of MRI to assess the extent, severity and type of inflammation surrounding the joints. However, conventional spin echo imaging requires subjective interpretation and gives little information about trabecular structure, despite the fact that new bone formation and bone destruction may both occur in spondylorthritis. Here, we describe the use of chemical shift-encoded MRI as a quantitative method for assessing inflammation of the sacroiliac joints. Specifically, we demonstrate the use of proton-density fat fraction and R2* as measures of bone marrow composition and structure, respectively, in both active and chronic inflammation.
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