The evidence for whole-spine MRI in the assessment of axial spondyloarthropathy

In the past decade, fat-suppression MRI techniques have been increasingly used for the assessment of axial-SpA. Indeed, newly proposed classification criteria have suggested the inclusion of fat-suppression MRI for the evaluation of the SI joint in inflammatory back pain (IBP) of suspected axial-SpA. However, recent data on the whole spine have identified certain MRI spinal lesions to be highly diagnostic of axial-SpA; that the SI joint can be spared in axial-SpA; and that IBP may originate in the lumbar spine rather than SI joint. Therefore, it is proposed that MRI of the whole spine and not just the SI joint should now become a routine part of the assessment of axial-SpA. Not only is spinal MRI of great diagnostic utility in axial-SpA but there is also increasing evidence to suggest that it can play a significant role in the management, in particular directing anti-TNF therapy in AS, and also it may be prognostically useful in axial-SpA. With the wider availability, improving technology and falling cost of MRI, and the difficulty that clinical assessment of axial-SpA poses, especially in early disease, there is now a strong case for the use of whole-spine MRI in the diagnosis and management of axial-SpA.