Mendonça JA, de Aquino JLB. Does ultrasound detect joint and intestinal changes in psoriatic arthritis and ulcerative colitis after immunobiological treatment: A case report. World J Radiol 2025; 17(8): 109146 [DOI: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i8.109146]
Corresponding Author of This Article
José Alexandre Mendonça, PhD, Professor, Stricto Sensu Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences/Ultrasonography/Rheumatology Service, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (PUC-Campinas) School of Life Sciences, Avenue John Boyd Dunlop, Jardim Ipaussurama, Campinas, Sumare 13175665, São Paulo, Brazil. alexandre@josealexandre.com
Research Domain of This Article
Rheumatology
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Radiol. Aug 28, 2025; 17(8): 109146 Published online Aug 28, 2025. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i8.109146
Does ultrasound detect joint and intestinal changes in psoriatic arthritis and ulcerative colitis after immunobiological treatment: A case report
José Alexandre Mendonça, José Luís Braga de Aquino
José Alexandre Mendonça, Stricto Sensu Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences/Ultrasonography/Rheumatology Service, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (PUC-Campinas) School of Life Sciences, Sumare 13175665, São Paulo, Brazil
José Luís Braga de Aquino, Stricto Sensu Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences/Surgery Service, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (PUC-Campinas) School of Life Sciences, Campinas 13060-604, São Paulo, Brazil
Co-corresponding authors: José Alexandre Mendonça and José Luís Braga de Aquino.
Author contributions: Mendonça JA did the ultrasound exams; Mendonça JA and de Aquino JLB contributed equally, with the writing and the method description of this article as the co-corresponding authors; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent for publication was obtained for this case report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: José Alexandre Mendonça, PhD, Professor, Stricto Sensu Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences/Ultrasonography/Rheumatology Service, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas (PUC-Campinas) School of Life Sciences, Avenue John Boyd Dunlop, Jardim Ipaussurama, Campinas, Sumare 13175665, São Paulo, Brazil. alexandre@josealexandre.com
Received: April 30, 2025 Revised: May 25, 2025 Accepted: July 24, 2025 Published online: August 28, 2025 Processing time: 120 Days and 3.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Ultrasound (US) can be a valuable tool for assessing arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), especially in cases of psoriatic disease. The clinical case reviewed in this article addresses an exploratory finding that evaluates the effects of immunobiological treatments on dactylitis and IBD with the use of US techniques.
CASE SUMMARY
A 40-year-old Caucasian woman with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ulcerative colitis (UC) reported experiencing finger pain, knee arthritis, and bloody diarrhea. She showed a high Disease Activity index for PsA score and a severe Mayo score. She began treatment with adalimumab. Over the course of six months, the 18 MHz US procedure was performed on her joints and a 3.5 MHz US on her intestines. The joint US indicated dactylitis and swelling in her finger joints, while the intestinal US revealed 6.6 mm swelling in the sigmoid colon, increased abdominal fat, and high Doppler signal. Her fecal calprotectin level was 5984 mg/kg, and a colonoscopy showed that UC extended to the hepatic flexure, along with mild narrowing of the transverse colon. After six months treatment, all parameters showed improvement, including a remission of the Mayo score, better colonoscopy results, and Limberg score of 0.
CONCLUSION
More research is needed to find out the importance of using US in patients with PsA and UC as this could improve treatment strategies.
Core Tip: This case study highlights a promising ultrasound (US) use in the simultaneous assessment of joint and intestinal inflammation in a patient diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and ulcerative colitis (UC). By employing high-frequency US (18 MHz) to evaluate dactylitis as well as abdominal US (3.5 MHz) to detect colonic inflammation, the findings underscore the versatility of this imaging technique. Following a six-month treatment regimen with adalimumab, significant improvements were observed in various clinical, laboratory, endoscopic, and sonographic parameters. These results suggest that US may represent a valuable tool for the integrated monitoring of PsA and UC and can potentially guide and enhance therapeutic strategies.
