Evaluation of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound as a Diagnostic Tool in Rheumatoid Hand

Abstract

heumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease leading to severe disability and premature mortality with incidence ranging from 5 to 50 per 100 000 adults in developed countries. Accurate assessment of disease activity and joint damage in RA is important for monitoring treatment efficiency and for prediction of the outcome of the disease. Musculoskeletal US is a sensitive method for the detection of both early inflammatory soft tissue lesions and early bone lesions in arthritic joint diseases and correlates well with MRI. Several musculoskeletal US scores are used for monitoring RA disease activity but have yet not been appropriately validated. Despite the promising results of continually developing classifications of US findings in RA, the clinical applicability of these scoring systems in distinguishing osteoarthritis or normal patients from RA patients with specificity for RA has not been much suggested or clearly demonstrated. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of US for detection and grading of synovitis and vascularity in finger joints in RA patients utilizing different scoring systems and to validate the ability of a novel scoring approach to distinguish between healthy and OA finger joints and those with RA.