FRI0230 Exploring Cartilage Damage in Gout Using 3T Mri: Developing A Scoring System

Background Few imaging studies have investigated cartilage damage in gout. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can produce high quality images of cartilage damage in this disease and also reveal other features of gouty arthropathy. Objectives To develop and validate a system for quantifying cartilage damage in gout. To test this system for scoring reliability and validity. To explore associations between cartilage damage and other disease manifestations in gout. Methods 3T-MRI scans of the wrist were obtained in 40 gout patients using a dedicated wrist coil and cartilage-specific sequences (1). MRI cartilage damage was quantified using an adaptation of the radiographic Sharp van der Heidje (SvdH) score. Two readers scored cartilage loss at 7 wrist joints (distal radio-ulnar, radioscaphoid, radiolunate, triquetrum-hamate, lunate-capitate, scaphoid-capitate, and scaphotrapezoid); 0 (normal), 1 (partial narrowing), 2 (complete narrowing) and concomitant osteoarthritis was recorded. Bone erosion and bone marrow edema (BME) were scored using the RAMRIS system and tophi were assessed. The SvdH score was used to assess radiographic erosion and jsn in the same group. Reliability of the MRI cartilage score was determined and correlations with the radiographic jsn score were investigated as were the associations between MRI cartilage damage, bone erosion and BME. Results A total of 280 joints were scored for MRI cartilage damage (N=40). The gout MRI cartilage score was highly correlated with the total SvdH score and the jsn component (R =0.8 and 0.71 respectively, p