JIA: Remission & Relapse

Those with inactive disease relapsed 6 months after stopping treatment
medpagetoday.com

ard.bmj.com

Abnormalities detected by joint ultrasound can be strong predictors of relapse in clinically inactive patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), a study suggests.
juvenilearthritisnews.com

Ultrasound Not Predictive of Disease Flares for Inactive Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Abnormal ultrasound findings did not predict future symptom flares in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis with clinically inactive disease in up to 2 years of follow-up.
rheumatologyadvisor.com

How does one reconcile these contradictory findings?  The latter study found that, when  power Doppler positivity was excluded in the predictive model, with only grey scale synovitis or effusion being considered, they were not predictive of a clinical flare.

Power Doppler synovitis is the more sensitive indicator of disease activity.