TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of treatment on imaging, clinical, and serologic assessments of disease activity in large-vessel vasculitis
AU - Banerjee, Shubhasree
AU - Quinn, Kaitlin A.
AU - Gribbons, K. Bates
AU - Rosenblum, Joel S.
AU - Civelek, Ali Cahid
AU - Novakovich, Elaine
AU - Merkel, Peter A.
AU - Ahlman, Mark A.
AU - Grayson, Peter C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Objective. Disease activity in large-vessel vasculitis (LVV) is traditionally assessed by clinical and serological variables rather than vascular imaging. This study determined the effect of treatment on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) vascular activity in relation to clinical- and serologic-based assessments. Methods. Patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) or Takayasu arteritis (TA) were prospectively evaluated at 6-month intervals in an observational cohort. Treatment changes were made at least 3 months before the followup visit and categorized as increased, decreased, or unchanged. Imaging (FDG-PET qualitative analysis), clinical, and serologic (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein) assessments were determined at each visit and compared over interval visits. Results. Serial assessments were performed in 52 patients with LVV (GCA = 31; TA = 21) over 156 visits. Increased, decreased, or unchanged therapy was recorded for 36-, 23-, and 32-visit intervals, respectively. When treatment was increased, there was significant reduction in disease activity by imaging, clinical, and inflammatory markers (p ≤ 0.01 for each). When treatment was unchanged, all 3 assessments of disease activity remained similarly unchanged over 6-month intervals. When treatment was reduced, PET activity significantly worsened (p = 0.02) but clinical and serologic activity did not significantly change. Treatment of GCA with tocilizumab and of TA with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors resulted in significant improvement in imaging and clinical assessments of disease activity, but only rarely did the assessments both become normal. Conclusion. In addition to clinical and serologic assessments, vascular imaging has potential to monitor disease activity in LVV and should be tested as an outcome measure in randomized clinical trials.
AB - Objective. Disease activity in large-vessel vasculitis (LVV) is traditionally assessed by clinical and serological variables rather than vascular imaging. This study determined the effect of treatment on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) vascular activity in relation to clinical- and serologic-based assessments. Methods. Patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) or Takayasu arteritis (TA) were prospectively evaluated at 6-month intervals in an observational cohort. Treatment changes were made at least 3 months before the followup visit and categorized as increased, decreased, or unchanged. Imaging (FDG-PET qualitative analysis), clinical, and serologic (erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein) assessments were determined at each visit and compared over interval visits. Results. Serial assessments were performed in 52 patients with LVV (GCA = 31; TA = 21) over 156 visits. Increased, decreased, or unchanged therapy was recorded for 36-, 23-, and 32-visit intervals, respectively. When treatment was increased, there was significant reduction in disease activity by imaging, clinical, and inflammatory markers (p ≤ 0.01 for each). When treatment was unchanged, all 3 assessments of disease activity remained similarly unchanged over 6-month intervals. When treatment was reduced, PET activity significantly worsened (p = 0.02) but clinical and serologic activity did not significantly change. Treatment of GCA with tocilizumab and of TA with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors resulted in significant improvement in imaging and clinical assessments of disease activity, but only rarely did the assessments both become normal. Conclusion. In addition to clinical and serologic assessments, vascular imaging has potential to monitor disease activity in LVV and should be tested as an outcome measure in randomized clinical trials.
KW - Fluorodeoxyglucose takayasu arteritis
KW - Giant cell arteritis
KW - Large-vessel vasculitis
KW - Positron emission tomography
KW - Vasculitis
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U2 - 10.3899/jrheum.181222
DO - 10.3899/jrheum.181222
M3 - Article
C2 - 30877209
AN - SCOPUS:85068179209
SN - 0315-162X
VL - 47
SP - 99
EP - 107
JO - Journal of Rheumatology
JF - Journal of Rheumatology
IS - 1
ER -