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Fully automatic quantitative software for assessment of minute finger joint space narrowing progression on radiographs: evaluation in rheumatoid arthritis patients with long-term sustained clinical low disease activity

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Japanese Journal of Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes joint space narrowing (JSN) as a form of joint destruction. We developed an automatic system that can detect joint locations and compute the joint space difference index (JSDI), which was defined as the chronological change in JSN between two radiographs. This study aims to evaluate the application of “machine vision” for radiographic image of the finger joints.

Materials and methods

Fifteen RA patients with long-term sustained clinical low disease activity were recruited. All patients underwent hand radiography and power Doppler ultrasonography (PDUS). The JSN was evaluated using the Genant-modified Sharp scoring (GSS) method and the automatic system. Synovial vascularity (SV) was assessed quantitatively using ultrasonography.

Results

There were no significant differences in the JSDI between the joints with JSN and those without JSN on GSS (p = 0.052). The JSDI of the joints with SV was significantly higher than those without SV (p = 0.043). The JSDI of the no therapeutic response group was significantly higher than those of the response group (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our software can automatically evaluate temporal changes of JSN, which might free rheumatologists / radiologists from the burden of scoring hand radiography.

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Funding

This work has no funding support.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Kazuki Kato and Kenneth Sutherland are equally contributed to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Radiation Department, Yokohama City University Hospital, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan

    Kazuki Kato

  2. Global Center for Biomedical Science and Engineering, Hokkaido University, North 15 West 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan

    Kenneth Sutherland

  3. Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North 12 West 5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0812, Japan

    Yuki Tanaka

  4. Division of Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Nephrology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N15 W7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan

    Masaru Kato

  5. Department of Rheumatology, Hokkaido Medical Center for Rheumatic Diseases, Kotoni 1-3, Nishi-ku, Sapporo, 063-0811, Japan

    Jun Fukae & Kazuhide Tanimura

  6. Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, North-12 West-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0812, Japan

    Tamotsu Kamishima

Authors
  1. Kazuki Kato
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  2. Kenneth Sutherland
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  3. Yuki Tanaka
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  4. Masaru Kato
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  7. Tamotsu Kamishima
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tamotsu Kamishima.

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Kato, K., Sutherland, K., Tanaka, Y. et al. Fully automatic quantitative software for assessment of minute finger joint space narrowing progression on radiographs: evaluation in rheumatoid arthritis patients with long-term sustained clinical low disease activity. Jpn J Radiol 38, 979–986 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-020-00996-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-020-00996-4

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