The state of art of MRI research on the wrist in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for improving the outcome of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). New MRI and new scoring system, making precise and quantitative diagnosis and evaluation of RA, can be complementary to laboratory test. Wrist, metacarpophalangeal joint, carpometacarpal joint and interphalangeal joint are most often affected in RA. Early MRI features of RA include synovitis, bone marrow edema, erosions and cartilage loss. MRI can detect early signs of RA in wrist with high sensitivity and accuracy, and can easily and quantitatively monitor lesion response to the treatments. In this review, we summarized values of the wrist MRI in early diagnosis, quantitative analysis and prognosis of RA.