Point of care ultrasound for the diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica in chronic seronegative polyarthritis: A case report / Ultrasonografía point of care para el diagnóstico de polimialgia reumática en poliartritis crónica seronegativa: un reporte de caso

ABSTRACT Polymyalgia Rheumatica is one of the most frequent inflammatory musculoskeletal disor ders in adults over 50 years of age that can present with polyarthritis. The case is presented of a 65-year-old woman with chronic disabling severe polyarticular pain associated with polyarthritis. It was initially diagnosed as seronegative rheumatoid arthritis, in which bilateral sub-deltoid and trochanteric bursitis was demonstrated by ultrasound, along with bicipital tenosynovitis, all features of polymyalgia rheumatica. A good clinical and ultrasound response to corticosteroid treatment is also described.

RESUMEN La polimialgia reumática es una de las patologías inflamatorias musculoesqueléticas más frecuentes en adultos mayores de 50 arios que pueden presentarse con poliartritis. Se presenta el caso de una mujer de 65 años con cuadro crónico de dolor poliarticular severo incapacitante, asociado a poliartritis, diagnosticada inicialmente como artritis reumatoide seronegativa, en quien se demostró, mediante ultrasonido, bursitis subdeltoidea y trocantérica bilaterales, así como tenosinovitis bicipital, todas características de polimialgia reumática. Se describe también una buena respuesta clínica y ultrasonográfica al tratamiento con corticoides.

Discrepancies of ultrasound findings of shoulders in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and polymyalgia rheumatica / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective To investigate the features and discrepancies of the ultrasound findings of shoulders in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR).Methods Patients with RA and PMR who complained of pain,swelling or limited mobility of shoulder were enrolled for bilateral ultrasound assessment.Inflammatory lesions including long head biceps (LHB) tenosynovitis,subacromial-subdeltoid (SASD) bursitis,tendinosis of supraspinatus (SS) tendon effusion/synovitis in glenohumeral (GH) and acromioclavicular (AC) joints,as well as structural damages including SS tear,bone erosions and osteophytes on humeral head and AC joints were evaluated.Comparison of frequency of ultrasound features between the two groups was analyzed byx2 test.Results A total of 458 shoulders from 192 RA and 37 PMR patients were assessed by ultrasound.In RA patients,the most prevalent inflammatory findings were LHB tenosynovitis (31.3％),followed by SASD bursitis (25％),SS tendinosis (11.5％),AC and GH effusion/synovitis (10.4％ and 5.7％,respectively).LHB tenosynovitis was the most frequent finding in PMR patients (37.8％),followed by SS tendinosis (27％),SASD bursitis (24.3％),AC and GH effusion/synovitis (2.7％ and 0,respectively).Partial or complete tear of SS tendon was found in 9.9％ RA and 8.1％ PMR patients,respectively.SS tendinosis was more frequently presented in PMR than RA patients (x2=6.255,P＜0.05),while GH effusion/synovitis was more common in RA group (x2=3.983,P＜0.05).Bone erosions and osteophytes were common in both groups.SASD bursitis and SS tendinosis appeared to be more unilateral (77.1％ and 77.3％,respectively),while GH effusion/synovitis tended to be bilateral (63.6％) in RA patients.Conclusion Intra-articular inflammatory involvement (GH effusion/synovitis) is more frequent in RA,while peri-articular inflammatory involvement (SS tendinosis) is more frequent in patients with PMR.SASD bursitis and SS tendinosis appears to be unilateral,while GH effusion/synovitis tends to be bilateral in RA patients.