Among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical remission, an MRI-guided treat-to-target strategy compared with a conventional treat-to-target strategy did not result in improved disease activity remission rates or reduce radiographic progression, according to a recent study. Therefore, these findings do not support the use of an MRI-guided strategy for treating patients with RA. Researchers conducted a 2-year, randomized, multicenter trial at 9 hospitals. 200 patients with RA in clinical remission were enrolled between April 2012 and June 2015; the final follow-up visit was April 2017. They found:

• Of total patients randomized (133 women [67%]; mean [SD] age, 61.6 [10.5] years), 76 patients (76%) in the MRI-guided group and 95 (95%) in the conventional group completed the study.
• Of these, 64 (85%) vs 83 (88%), respectively, reached the primary clinical end point (risk difference, −4.8%) and 49 (66%) vs 58 (62%), respectively, reached the primary radiographic end point (risk difference, 4.7%).
• 17 patients (17%) in the MRI-guided treat-to-target group and 6 patients (6%) in the conventional treat-to-target group experienced serious adverse events.