We investigated the correlation of bone marrow edema (BME) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in RA and AS and its association with clinical complaints of neck pain.


 Cervical spine short-tau inversion recovery-MRI and T1w-MRI of 34 patients with RA and 6 patients with AS complaining about neck pain were obtained. 
MRI
Cervical spine short-tau inversion recovery-MRI and T1w-MRI of 34 patients with RA and 6 patients with AS complaining about neck pain were obtained. 
T1w-MRI
Patients were predominantly women (82.5%), and mean ± SD age was 57.5 ± 11.8 years, C-reactive protein (CRP) was 0.8 ± 1.3 mg/dl, and pain score was 46.0 ± 17.5.  No differences were found between patients with versus without cervical BME for clinical assessments: numeric rating scale pain (median ± interquartile range) 5.5 ± 3.0 vs 6.0 ± 4.0 (p = 0.69), Funktionsfragebogen Hannover 68.2 ± 41.0 vs 42.0 ± 55.5 (p = 0.19), Northwick pain score 44.4 ± 21.8 vs 47.2 ± 27.0 (p = 0.83), or CRP 0.40 ± 0.80 vs 0.60 ± 0.66 (p = 0.94). 
CRP