Background:Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of small joints sensitively detects inflammation. MRI-detected subclinical inflammation, and tenosynovitis in particular, has been shown predictive for RA development in patients with arthralgia. These scientific data are mostly acquired on 1.0T-1.5T MRI scanners. However, 3.0T MRI is nowadays increasingly used in practice. Evidence on the comparability of these field strengths is scarce and it has never been studied in arthralgia where subclinical inflammation is subtle. Moreover, comparisons never included tenosynovitis, which is, of all imaging features, the strongest predictor for progression to RA.Objectives:To determine if there is a difference between 1.5T and 3.0T MRI in detecting subclinical inflammation in arthralgia patients.Methods:2968 locations (joints, bones or tendon sheaths) in hands and forefeet of 28 arthralgia patients were imaged on both 1.5T and 3.0T MRI. Two independent readers scored for erosions, osteitis, synovitis (according to RAMRIS) and tenosynovitis (as described by Haavaardsholm et al.). Scores were also summed as total inflammation (osteitis, synovitis and tenosynovitis) and total RAMRIS (erosions, osteitis, synovitis and tenosynovitis) scores. Interreader reliability (comparing both readers) and field strength agreement (comparing 1.5T and 3.0T) was assessed with interclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Next, field strength agreement was assessed after dichotomization into presence or absence of inflammation. Analyses were performed on patient- and location-level.Results:ICCs between readers were excellent (>0.90). Comparing 1.5 and 3.0T revealed excellent ICCs of 0.90 (95% confidence interval 0.78-0.95) for the total inflammation score and 0.90 (0.78-0.95) for the total RAMRIS score. ICCs for individual inflammation features were: tenosynovitis: 0.87 (0.74-0.94), synovitis 0.65 (0.24-0.84) and osteitis 0.96 (0.91-0.98). The field strength agreement on dichotomized scores was 83% for the total inflammation score and 89% for the total RAMRIS score. Of the individual features, agreement for tenosynovitis was the highest (89%). Analyses on location- level showed similar results.Conclusion:Agreement of subclinical inflammation scores on 1.5T and 3.0T were good to excellent, in particular for tenosynovitis. This suggests that scientific evidence on predictive power of MRI in arthralgia patients, obtained on 1.5T, can be generalized to 3.0T when this field strength would be used for diagnostic purposes in daily practice.Disclosure of Interests:None declared