Vol.23 No.3

Case Report

Usefulness of ultrasonography-proven tenosynovitis to monitor disease activity of a patient with very early rheumatoid arthritis treated by abatacept

Authors

Shin-ya Kawashiri1 , Keita Fujikawa2 , Ayako Nishino1 , Takahisa Suzuki1 , Akitomo Okada1 , Hideki Nakamura1 , Atsushi Kawakami1

  • Department of Immunology and Rheumatology, Unit of Translational Medicine, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8501, Japan
  • Department of Internal Medicine, Isahaya Health Insurance General Hospital, Isahaya, Japan
Received:

7 February 2012

Accepted:

16 May 2012

Published online:

7 July 2012

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Abstract

We introduced abatacept (ABT) in a very early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patient with active tenosynovitis of hands defined bymusculoskeletal ultrasonography (MSKUS). MSKUS-proven tenosynovitis remarkably improved at 2 months in spite of clinical exacerbation, followed by clinical remission at 5 months. MSKUS abnormalities also disappeared. Although ABT was discontinued due to an adverse event after the sixth infusion, she remained in clinical remission as well as imaging remission by MSKUS at 13 months.

Key words

Rheumatoid arthritis, Musculoskeletal ultrasonography, Abatacep