The group reaffirmed PET’s potential positive contributions to joint disease patients, but warned further research is needed to ultimately decide its clinical application.

“Inflammatory or infectious arthropathies have long posed a diagnostic dilemma, with significant potential morbidity and complications for patients with delayed or incorrect diagnosis,” researchers wrote.

“PET can aid in the early diagnosis of inflammatory or infectious arthropathies and may also be used for the longitudinal monitoring of disease activity for both clinical and research purposes. Potential musculoskeletal applications of PET/MRI remain in the realm of research and need to be expanded in future clinical studies,” they added. {read more here}