The Role of Multimodality Imaging in Monitoring Disease Activity and Therapeutic Response to Tocilizumab in Giant Cell Arteritis
Joint Authors
Cantarini, Luca
Tosi, Gian Marco
Frediani, Bruno
Conticini, Edoardo
Sota, Jurgen
Falsetti, Paolo
Baldi, Caterina
Bardelli, Marco
Bellisai, Francesca
Source
Issue
Vol. 2020, Issue 2020 (31 Dec. 2020), pp.1-9, 9 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2020-09-27
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
9
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Introduction.
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a large vessel (LV) vasculitis, mainly affecting elder patients.
Monitoring GCA activity during tocilizumab (TCZ) treatment is an unmet need, since low serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) during treatment may underestimate disease activity.
To date, few data are available on the role of different imaging techniques in monitoring GCA activity and response to treatment.
We report herein a cohort of GCA patients treated with TCZ and followed up with multimodal imaging.
Patients and Methods.
We collected clinical, laboratory, and imaging data of 11 GCA patients treated with TCZ 162 mg subcutaneously every week.
Disease activity was assessed at baseline and within 12 months from the start of treatment using different imaging techniques such as color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS), magnetic resonance imaging/angiography (MRI/MRA), computed tomography angiography (CTA), and/or positron emission tomography (PET).
Results.
Four patients were affected by cranial and 7 by LV-GCA.
All patients were treated with oral glucocorticoids (GCs) (mean dose 55.68 mg±8.19 of prednisone or equivalent) in combination with TCZ.
Treatment was preceded in 5 cases by 3 intravenous boluses of 1000 mg methylprednisolone.
A significant decrease of the mean dose of oral GCs was observed between baseline and the last follow-up visit (4.65±3.69 mg) (p=0.003).
TCZ treatment significantly decreased erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p<0.01) and CRP levels (p<0.01).
At follow-up (mean 8.18±3.63 months), all patients were in clinical and serological remission.
Moreover, PET, CDUS, MRI/MRA, and CTA did not show any LVV finding.
Conclusions.
Our study highlights TCZ efficacy in inducing GCA remission and its steroid-sparing effect.
We highlighted a reliability of imaging procedures in the evaluation of disease activity and treatment response.
A close disease monitoring with imaging techniques should be taken into account in GCA patients during TCZ treatment.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Conticini, Edoardo& Sota, Jurgen& Falsetti, Paolo& Baldi, Caterina& Bardelli, Marco& Bellisai, Francesca…[et al.]. 2020. The Role of Multimodality Imaging in Monitoring Disease Activity and Therapeutic Response to Tocilizumab in Giant Cell Arteritis. Mediators of Inflammation،Vol. 2020, no. 2020, pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1191644
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Conticini, Edoardo…[et al.]. The Role of Multimodality Imaging in Monitoring Disease Activity and Therapeutic Response to Tocilizumab in Giant Cell Arteritis. Mediators of Inflammation No. 2020 (2020), pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1191644
American Medical Association (AMA)
Conticini, Edoardo& Sota, Jurgen& Falsetti, Paolo& Baldi, Caterina& Bardelli, Marco& Bellisai, Francesca…[et al.]. The Role of Multimodality Imaging in Monitoring Disease Activity and Therapeutic Response to Tocilizumab in Giant Cell Arteritis. Mediators of Inflammation. 2020. Vol. 2020, no. 2020, pp.1-9.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1191644
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1191644