Monocyte Scintigraphy in Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Dynamics of Monocyte Migration in Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disease

Abstract

The results indicate monocytes migrate continuously into the inflamed synovial tissue of RA patients, but at a slow macrophage-replacement rate. This suggests that the rapid decrease in synovial macrophages that occurs after antirheumatic treatment might rather be explained by an alteration in macrophage retention than in monocyte influx and that RA might be particularly sensitive to treatments targeting inflammatory cell retention.