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An abstract of the conference paper "Agreement between objective and subjective definitions of inactive disease, remission and minimal disease activity in juvenile idiopathic arthritis," by A. Martini, and colleagues, is presented.

An abstract of the conference paper "Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis currently followed in a tertiary care setting have a better psychosocial well-being than healthy peers," by M. Bertamino and colleagues is presented.

Objectives: To identify an optimal pediatric musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) protocol for the detection of knee arthritis in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) including a comparison with existing protocols. Secondary aims were to correlate MSUS-identified B-Mode (BM) and Power Doppler-Mode (PD) synovitis with clinical findings., Methods: Consecutive JIA patients with confirmed knee arthritis after clinical examination underwent a thorough MSUS study protocol which included views identified and consented by the Pediatric Rheumatology european Society (PReS) Imaging Working Party for the detection of synovitis. In total eight views including measurement of the suprapatellar recess were included. Scoring of synovitis followed the pediatric OMERACT criteria (BM and PD severity grading 0 to 3). Interobserver reliability of BM and PD was tested before study begin. Previously published MSUS protocols for knee synovitis were also identified from the literature and their scan protocols compared to identify differences in sensitivity for synovitis according to the number and specific type of views included. Finally, a clinically applicable MSUS protocol for knee synovitis could be proposed., Results: In 114 patients with clinically active knee inflammation, BM positivity (grading ≥ 1) was most frequently detected in the suprapatellar longitudinal and transverse scans performed in any positioning (frequency 97-99% in suprapatellar longitudinal in 30° or neutral respectively). PD positivity was however higher in these views performed in 30° flexion compared to neutral. Intrasynovial PD positivity (grading ≥ 1) was most frequently detected in the lateral parapatellar (69%, sensitivity 0.68, specificity 0.98), medial parapatellar (frequency 67%, sensitivity 0.67, specificity 1.0), the longitudinal lateral (68%, sensitivity 0.67, specificity 0.98) and suprapatellar transverse in 30° (frequency 64%, sensitivity 0.64, specificity 1.0). A combination of five views was the most sensitive for BM and PD synovitis. The suprapatellar recess size was analyzed by age and gender. For each group, the recess was wider in knees with arthritis than without (p < 0.001). Interobserver reliability of BM and PD positivity showed 85% agreement, with kappa 0.74 (very good). Three published studies with knee synovitis MSUS protocols were identified, which included a range of 1-3 views. Evaluation of the sensitivity of positive PD findings of each of these protocols reached a range of 53-83%; the highest sensitivity (91%) was achieved with the 5 views as identified by this study. These five views were therefore combined to form the Pediatric Internationally agreed Ultrasound (PIUS) knee protocol., Conclusion: BM and PD positivity reliably correlated with the identification of pathological findings in knees of patients with JIA. From an internationally agreed protocol of eight images, a combination of five showed the greatest sensitivity for synovitis. This protocol, termed 'PIUS-Knee' performed well when compared to existing protocols., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Data from routine clinical practice are needed to further define the efficacy and safety of biologic medications in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The aim of this analysis was to investigate the disease status, reasons for discontinuation and adverse events in Italian JIA patients treated with etanercept (ETN)., Methods: In 2013, all centers of the Italian Pediatric Rheumatology Study Group were asked to make a census of patients given ETN after January 2000. Patients were classified in three groups: group 1 = patients still taking ETN; group 2 = patients discontinued from ETN for any reasons; group 3 = patients lost to follow-up while receiving ETN. All three groups received a retrospective assessment; patients in group 1 also underwent a cross-sectional assessment., Results: 1038 patients were enrolled by 23 centers: 422 (40.7%) were in group 1, 462 (44.5%) in group 2, and 154 (14.8%) in group 3. Median duration of ETN therapy was 2.5 years. At cross-sectional assessment, 41.8% to 48.6% of patients in group 1 met formal criteria for inactive disease, whereas 52.4% of patients in group 2 and 55.8% of patients in group 3 were judged in clinical remission by their caring physician at last visit. A relatively greater proportion of patients with systemic arthritis were discontinued or lost to follow-up. Parent evaluations at cross-sectional visit in group 1 showed that 52.4% of patients had normal physical function, very few had impairment in quality of life, 51.2% had no pain, 76% had no morning stiffness, and 82.7% of parents were satisfied with their child's illness outcome. Clinically significant adverse events were reported for 27.8% of patients and ETN was discontinued for side effects in 9.5%. The most common adverse events were new onset or recurrent uveitis (10.2%), infections (6.6%), injection site reactions (4.4%), and neuropsychiatric (3.1%), gastrointestinal (2.4%), and hematological disorders (2.1%). Ten patients developed an inflammatory bowel disease and 2 had a malignancy. One patient died of a fulminant streptococcal sepsis., Conclusions: Around half of the patients achieved complete disease quiescence under treatment with ETN. The medication was overall well tolerated, as only one quarter of patients experienced clinically significant adverse events and less than 10% had treatment discontinued for toxicity.

Background: In the recent years, musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) has been regarded as especially promising in the assessment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), as a reliable method to precisely document and monitor the synovial inflammation process., Main Content: MSUS is particularly suited for examination of joints in children due to several advantages over other imaging modalities. Some challenges should be considered for correct interpretation of MSUS findings in children, due to the peculiar features of the growing skeleton. MSUS in JIA is considered particularly useful for its ability to detect subclinical synovitis, to improve the classification of patients in JIA subtypes, for the definition of remission, as guidance to intraarticular corticosteroid injections and for capturing early articular damage. Current evidence and applications of MSUS in JIA are documented by several authors. Recent advances and insights into further investigations on MSUS in healthy children and in JIA patients are presented and discussed in the present review., Conclusions: MSUS shows great promise in the assessment and management of children with JIA. Nonetheless, anatomical knowledge of sonographic changes over time, underlying immunopathophysiology, standardization and validation of MSUS in healthy children and in patients with JIA are still under investigation. Further research and educational efforts are required for expanding this imaging modality to more clinicians in their daily practice.