Optisch spectraal transmissie voor therapie monitoring en correlatie met arteriële vaatstijfheid bij patiënten met reumatoïde artritis die gaan starten met TNF remmende therapie

In the last decade, treatment advances in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have resulted in a tremendous improvement in therapeutic outcomes. One of these advances is treat-to-target therapy. However, a valid detection instrument for disease activity is still necessary. Currently a composite measure called Disease Activity Score (DAS28) is used for this. However, a new imaging device called handscan might be an appropriate disease activity detection instrument as well. Measurements with the handscan are fast and probably less investigator-dependent. The handscan uses hemodynamics of the smaller vessels to measure inflammation in the hand joints and therefore a correlation between the handscan measurement and arterial stiffness, as assessed with pulse wave velocity, might be present.

The objectives of this study are to investigate the correlation of the handscan measurement with DAS28 and ultrasound measurement of the hands and to investigate the responsiveness to therapy of the handscan device. Also the correlation between the handscan and arterial stiffness will be investigated.

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Baseline, 1 month and 4 months.

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