• Arthritis care & research · Dec 2016

    Multicenter Study

    Quantifying Temporomandibular Joint Synovitis in Children With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

    • Cory M Resnick, Pouya M Vakilian, Micheál Breen, David Zurakowski, Paul Caruso, Lauren Henderson, Peter A Nigrovic, Leonard B Kaban, and Zachary S Peacock.
    • Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
    • Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 Dec 1; 68 (12): 1795-1802.

    ObjectiveJuvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) frequently affects the temporomandibular joints (TMJs) and is often undetected by history, examination, and plain imaging. Qualitative assessment of gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance images (MRIs) is currently the standard for diagnosis of TMJ synovitis associated with JIA. The purpose of this study is to apply a quantitative analysis of synovial enhancement to MRIs of patients with and without JIA to establish a disease threshold and sensitivity and specificity for the technique.MethodsThis is a retrospective case-control study of children (age ≤16 years) who had MRIs with gadolinium including the TMJs. Subjects were divided into a JIA group and a control group. From a coronal T1-weighted image, a ratio (enhancement ratio [ER]) of the average pixel intensity within three 0.2-mm2 regions of interest (ROIs) in the TMJ synovium to that of a 50-mm2 ROI of the longus capitis muscle was calculated. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the sensitivity and specificity. The inter- and intraexaminer reliability was evaluated with Bland-Altman plots and 2-way mixed, absolute agreement intraclass correlation coefficients.ResultsThere were 187 and 142 TMJs included in the JIA and control groups, respectively. An ER threshold of 1.55 had a sensitivity and specificity for detecting synovitis of 91% and 96%, respectively. The inter- and intraexaminer reliability was excellent.ConclusionCalculating a ratio of pixel intensity between the TMJ synovium and the longus capitis muscle is a reliable way to quantify synovial enhancement. An ER of 1.55 differentiates normal TMJs from those affected by inflammatory arthritis.© 2016, American College of Rheumatology.

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