FRI0512 THE US7 SCORE IS A SENSITIVE-TO-CHANGE METHOD FOR EVALUATING JOINT INFLAMMATION IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AMONG RHEUMATOLOGISTS WITH BASIC OR INTERMEDIATE LEVEL OF ULTRASOUND TRAINING

Background: Musculoskeletal ultrasound may be a useful method for monitoring activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). German US-7 score is a recently introduced scoring index to assess synovitis and erosions in patients with RA1. Objectives: Our goal was to determine a feasibility of the German US-7 score among non-experts users in a pilot cohort study. Methods: A group of 100 patients with RA (81 females, 19 males; 25 with early and 75 with long-standing arthritis) treated with conventional DMARDs (N=84 patients) and/or biologics (N=12 patients) underwent clinical examination (TJC, SJC, DAS28), laboratory tests (CRP, FW) and ultrasound assessment at baseline and after 3 and 6 months. Distinct pathologic lesions detected by ultrasound examination were assessed by eight physicians in seven joint areas (wrist, second and third metacarpophalangeal and proximal interphalangeal, and second and fifth metacarpophalangeal joints) of the clinically dominant hand and foot according to the German US7 score. Synovitis and tenosynovial vascularity due to inflammation were scored semiquantitatively (0-3) in Gre