ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo investigate the application value of ultrasound in the diagnosis of shoulder abnormality among patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA).MethodsShoulders of 41 RA patients and 20 healthy volunteers were examined by high frequency ultrasound and physicians.Abnormal ultrasonography and clinical appearance were recorded.Results Abnormalities,such as tendonitis of long head of biceps tendon(14 shoulders),synovitis ( 15 shoulders),rotate cuff degeneration (6 shoulders),bone erosion (25 shoulders) and joint effusion(10 shoulders),were found in RA patients and only 16 shoulders were found abnormal by clinical examination.The positive rate of ultrasound (43.9％) was significantly higher than that of clinical examination (19.5％,P =0.001 ).Only a small amount of effusion was found in tendon sheathes of 2 biceps in the control group.ConclusionsMost of shoulder abnormalities can be detected by ultrasound and the sensitivity of ultrasound is higher than that of clinical examination.Ultrasonography is valuable in the diagnosis of shoulder RA.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the application value of three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography(3D-PDU) for synovial disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA). Methods Forty four patients with RA were divided into active (23 cases) and non-active (21 cases) groups. 3D-PDU was used in the wrists to measure the volume of synovium(V) ,vascular index(VI) in synovium.and Doppler spectrum was used to measure synovial artery peak systolic blood flow velocity(PSV) , end diastolic velocity (EDV) and resistance index(RI). Results There were significant differences of the V [(1. 73 0. 73) cm3] and VI (9. 53 6. 11) in the group of active patients compared to the V [(1. 09 0. 76) cm3 , P = 0. 008] and VI [(3.86 4.99), P = 0.000] in the ones of inactive patients. No differences were found for PSV [(16. 8 6. 29) cm/s vs (13. 5 8. 54) cm/s, P = 0. 282] ,EDV [(5. 51 1.77) cm/s vs (5. 03 2. 76) cm/s, P = 0. 539] and RI (0. 66 0. 07 vs 0. 62 0. 08, P = 0. 095)in the comparison of two groups. Conclusions 3D-PDU in determining RA disease activity in patients with synovial medium has a higher application value, VI can be used as an effective indicator to determine the disease activity.