Anna EF Hadsbjerg^1,2*, Simon Krabbe¹, Nora Vladimirova^1,2, Adrian Ciurea³, Almut Scherer⁴, Kristýna Bubová⁵, Monika Gregová⁵, Simon Rasmussen¹, Christoph Tellenbach⁴, Michael J. Nissen⁶, Burkhard Möller⁷, Raphael Micheroli³, Susanne J Pedersen¹, Jakub Závada⁵, Ziga Snoj⁸, Karlo Pintaric⁸, Bjorn Gudbjornsson⁹, Ziga Rotar¹⁰, Merete Lund Hetland^1,2, Lykke M Ørnbjerg¹ and Mikkel Østergaard^1,2

¹Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research, Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Centre for Head and Orthopaedics, Righospitalet, Glostrup, Denmark
²Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
³Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital of Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
⁴DataScience Group, Swiss Clinical Quality Management (SCQM) in Rheumatic Diseases, Zürich, Switzerland
⁵Institute of Rheumatology and Department of Rheumatology, First Faculty of Medicine Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
⁶Rheumatology Department, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
⁷Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland
⁸Institute of Radiology, UMC Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
⁹Centre for Rheumatology Research, Landspitali University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik Iceland
¹⁰Department of Rheumatology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

*Corresponding Author: Anna EF Hadsbjerg, Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research, Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Centre for Head and Orthopaedics, Righospitalet, Glostrup, Denmark.

Received: February 19, 2025; Published: February 28, 2025

Abstract

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiography of the sacroiliac joints and spine play a key role when diagnosing and monitoring patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA) in routine clinical practice and clinical trials. However, much of the knowledge on the use of imaging in clinical practice is based on clinical trials, rather than on the more heterogeneous group of real-world patients.

The EuroSpA Research Collaboration Network, consisting of 17 European registries collecting clinical data on patients with axial SpA (axSpA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), has created an imaging sub-group to combine the clinical data in the registries with imaging data. The overarching aim of this initiative is, through the collection and analysis of sacroiliac joints and spine radiographs and MRIs in a very large cohort of patients with SpA followed in routine practice across several European countries, linked to clinical data, to answer a series of research questions on the pattern of disease, and the quality, reliability, and value of imaging for prediction and monitoring in routine care.

Methods: MRI and radiographs of the SIJs and spine from approximately 2800 patients with axSpA and PsA followed in routine care in five different European countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Slovenia, and Switzerland) are collected along with clinical data. The images are pseudonymized locally and transferred to the coordinating center in Copenhagen, where they are quality-checked and sorted. Images are evaluated in an online DICOM viewer and scored using an online platform according to the principles of the established and validated scoring systems. In addition, questionnaires regarding diagnosis, lesions and differential diagnoses are answered. All images are read by at least two readers and adjudicated if there is disagreement about diagnosis/differential diagnosis. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal readings are performed.

Discussion: This EuroSpA Imaging collaboration combines clinical and imaging data on thousands of routine care patients and offers unprecedented opportunities for studying numerous aspects of SpA, which we believe will contribute to a better understanding of how imaging is and should be used in SpA and thereby improving diagnostics and an optimization of management in patients with SpA.

 Keywords: Spondyloarthritis; Psoriatic Arthritis; Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Radiography

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Citation

Citation: Anna EF Hadsbjerg., et al. “Imaging in a Cohort of Real-World Patients with Spondyloarthritis from Five European Countries - Protocol for the European Spondyloarthritis Research Collaboration Network (EuroSpA) Imaging Project".Acta Scientific Orthopaedics 8.3 (2025): 14-26.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2025 Anna EF Hadsbjerg., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.