Imaging in psoriatic arthritis

In Psoriatic Arthritis and Spondarthritis plain film radiography will remain the leading imaging procedure in the next years on the one hand as a basic investigation, and on the other hand as a procedure for evaluation of the progressing of the disease. Especially for the joints plain Xray film provides many advantages because of its low cost and its allover availability. Only for very special questions, the much more expensive MRI will be used. Concerning the SI-joints in young patients with relatively new disease, MRI is the method of choice. High-resolution-computed-Tomography is very capable of showing discrete changes in cortical structures - complementary to MR. So in not so young patients with a history of the disease for some years HR-CT can show the inflammatory destructions and early signs of ancylosis better than MRI. In the lumbar spine and thoracic spine MRI and HR-CT provide important information, which surpass those of plain film radiography.