It is known that metabolic shifts and tissue remodelling precede the development of visible inflammation and structural organ damage in inflammatory rheumatic diseases such as the inflammatory arthritides. As such, visualising and measuring metabolic tissue activity could be useful to identify biomarkers of disease activity already in a very early phase. Recent advances in imaging have led to the development of so-called ‘metabolic imaging’ tools that can detect these changes in metabolism in an increasingly accurate manner and non-invasively. Nuclear imaging techniques such as 18 F-D-glucose and fibroblast activation protein inhibitor-labelled positron emission tomography are increasingly used and have yielded impressing results in the visualisation (including whole-body staging) of inflammatory changes in both early and established arthritis. Furthermore, optical imaging-based bedside techniques such as multispectral optoacoustic tomography and fluorescence optical imaging are advancing our understanding of arthritis by identifying intra-articular metabolic changes that correlate with the onset of inflammation with high precision and without the need of ionising radiation. Metabolic imaging holds great potential for improving the management of patients with inflammatory arthritis by contributing to early disease interception and improving diagnostic accuracy, thereby paving the way for a more personalised approach to therapy strategies including preventive strategies. In this narrative review, we discuss state-of-the-art metabolic imaging methods used in the assessment of arthritis and inflammation, and we advocate for more extensive research endeavours to elucidate their full field of application in rheumatology.

Rita Noversa de Sousa

Koray Tascilar

Giulia Corte

Armin Atzinger

Ioanna Minopoulou

Sarah Ohrndorf

Maximilian Waldner

Christian Schmidkonz

Torsten Kuwert

Ferdinand Knieling

Arnd Kleyer

Andreas Ramming

Georg Schett

David Simon

Filippo Fagni

RMD Open

RMD Open publishes high quality peer-reviewed original research covering the full spectrum of musculoskeletal disorders, rheumatism and connective tissue diseases, including osteoporosis, spine and rehabilitation. Clinical and epidemiological research, basic and translational medicine, interesting clinical cases, and smaller studies that add to the literature are all considered.

RMD Open publishes high-quality peer-reviewed original research covering the full spectrum of musculoskeletal disorders, rheumatism, and connective tissue diseases, including osteoporosis, spine issues, and rehabilitation. The journal considers clinical and epidemiological research, basic and translational medicine, interesting clinical cases, and smaller studies that contribute to the literature.

RMD Open 期刊发表高质量的同行评审原创研究，涵盖肌肉骨骼疾病、风湿病和结缔组织疾病的各个方面，包括骨质疏松、脊柱及康复。我们接受临床和流行病学研究、基础和转化医学、引人注目的临床案例，以及能够丰富文献的小型研究。

Metabolic and molecular imaging in inflammatory arthritis

炎症性关节炎的代谢与分子影像学

Category	Quartile
医学	2
医学, 风湿病学	2

Metabolic and molecular imaging in inflammatory arthritis

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