Value of SPECT/CT in the diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis in young children: a retrospective…

Case-controlFrontiers in medicine· 2026

Value of SPECT/CT in the diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis in young children: a retrospective case-control study.

Junming Dong, Yihuai Xu, Yaxuan Liu … Dongjie Ren

Pediatric RheumatologyCase-controlQ1IF 3.4

Single photon emission computed tomography wrist brightness scoring distinguishes juvenile idiopathic arthritis with moderate-to-high accuracy

Value of SPECT/CT in the diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis in young children: a retrospective case-control study.

Junming Dong … Dongjie Ren

Frontiers in medicine · 2026 · Q1 in General Medicine

Purpose

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (juvenile idiopathic arthritis) is the most common chronic rheumatic disease in childhood, with early diagnosis remaining challenging due to its heterogeneous manifestations and complex pathogenesis.

Methods

This retrospective case-control study included 29 juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients (aged 1-13 years) and 55 non-juvenile idiopathic arthritis controls (aged 1-16 years), all undergoing 99 Tc-MDP single photon emission computed tomography.

n = 29 JIA patients and 55 non-JIA

Results

wrist scoring correctly separated juvenile idiopathic arthritis from controls in most cases, AUROC; 1.0 is perfect

0.78AUC

Left wrist

0.813AUC

Right wrist

More results

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients showed significantly higher median brightness score in all target joints, with the most significant differences in bilateral wrists (left wrist: median = 3.25, IQR = 1.35, P = 0.02; right wrist: median = 3.26, IQR = 1.5, P = 0.01).

“

Conclusion

Single photon emission computed tomography-based wrist brightness scoring is a potential objective imaging tool for juvenile idiopathic arthritis diagnosis. No significant diagnostic value was found in the hip, knee, or ankle joints.

Value of SPECT/CT in the diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis in young children: a retrospective case-control study.

Value of SPECT/CT in the diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis in young children: a retrospective case-control study.

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