MINI REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Family Medicine and Primary Care
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1630114
This article is part of the Research TopicPatient-Centered Care: Strengthening Trust and Communication in Healthcare RelationshipsView all 18 articles
From image to insight: leveraging imaging to empower patients with inflammatory arthropathies
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of internal medicine and therapeutics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- 2Division of Rheumatology, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
- 3Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Pavia, Italy
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Recent advancementsAdvances in the management of inflammatory arthritis have shifted the focus toward patient-centered care, with growing recognition of the role ofincreasing emphasis on patient education, engagement, and treatment adherence. SimultaneouslyAt the same time, the increasing growing use of imaging techniques offers novel opportunities to support enhance communication between healthcare professionals and patients. This mini review explores theexamines current evidence on how visual tools and imaging modalities can be employed to enhanceimprove patient understanding, foster engagement, and improve strengthen adherence in inflammatory arthritis. BWhile barriers to adherence often arisestem from low health literacy and entrenched beliefs about illness and medications. However,, visual communication has demonstrated the potential to overcomeshown promise in addressing these challenges. Studies Research in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and gout suggest that showing personal or illustrative images to patients maycan increase disease insight, reinforce treatment necessity, and foster participation inencourage shared decision-making. Among imaging techniques, musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) stands out for its real-time useapplicability and interactive potential. Despite promising resultsAlthough findingsespecially in RA-are encouraging, the overall evidence remains limited, with minimal lack of research in spondyloarthritis and scarce data on long-term outcomes. Further investigations studies are needed to define develop standardized protocols and identify patient subgroups that may benefit the mostmost likely to benefit. Ultimately, integrating imaging into patient education strategies may be a valuable strategy to improve represent an effective approach to improve care experiences and outcomes in inflammatory arthritis.
Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Gout, Spondyloarthritis, imaging, Disability, Patient Education, patient engagement
Received: 16 May 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Conte, Menegolo, De Stefano, Bugatti and Sakellariou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Garifallia Sakellariou, Department of internal medicine and therapeutics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
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