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Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on February 24, 2004
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Rheumatology 2004; 43: 603-608
Rheumatology Vol. 43 No. 5 (c) British Society for Rheumatology 2004; all rights reserved

Clinical

Quantitative assessment of MRI T2 relaxation time of thigh muscles in juvenile dermatomyositis

S. M. Maillard1,2, R. Jones2, C. Owens2, C. Pilkington1,2, P. Woo1,2, L. R. Wedderburn1,2 and K. J. Murray1,2,3

1Juvenile Dermatomyositis Research Centre, Institute of Child Health, London and 2Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London, UK. 3Present address: Rheumatology Department, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, GPO Box D184, Perth, WA 6001, Australia.

Correspondence to: S. Maillard, Juvenile Dermatomyositis Research Centre, Rheumatology Unit, Ground Floor, Philip Ullmann Wing, Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, UK. E-mail: S.Maillard{at}ich.ucl.ac.uk

Objective. The aim of the study was to examine the validity and reliability of a quantifiable measure of inflammation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in children with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM).

Methods. Children with active JDM, inactive JDM and healthy children received detailed assessments of recognized measures of muscle inflammation including muscle strength (manual muscle testing and myometry) and function (Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale, Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire), the muscle enzymes lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) and T2-weighted MRI scans of the thigh muscles, and these values were correlated with each other.

Results. Ten children with active JDM, 10 with inactive JDM and 20 healthy children completed the study. There was no significant difference in ages between the three groups. The MRI T2 relaxation times were significantly increased in active JDM compared with inactive JDM and healthy children (P = 0.05), indicating a detectable increase in inflammation within the muscles. There were also good correlations between the MRI scores and the measures of muscle strength and function; however, there was no correlation between the MRI and muscle enzymes.

Conclusions. The MRI T2 relaxation time can be used as a quantitative measure of muscle inflammation and it has good correlations with other measures of disease activity.

KEY WORDS: Magnetic resonance imaging, Juvenile dermatomyositis, Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale, Muscle inflammation.


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L. J. McCann, A. D. Juggins, S. M. Maillard, L. R. Wedderburn, J. E. Davidson, K. J. Murray, C. A. Pilkington, and on behalf of the Juvenile Dermatomyositis Research
The Juvenile Dermatomyositis National Registry and Repository (UK and Ireland)--clinical characteristics of children recruited within the first 5 yr
Rheumatology, October 1, 2006; 45(10): 1255 - 1260.
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