ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between swelling detected on physical examination and effusion diagnosed by ultrasonography (US) in glenohumeral (GH) joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Fifty consecutive patients with RA entered the study and 20 healthy control persons formed a control group. Altogether 100 GH joints of the RA patients and 40 of the controls were evaluated. The clinical assessments were carried out by one doctor and the US investigations by another, and they were blinded to each other's results. The clinical examination and US gave similar results in 70 GH joints, whereas they differed in the remaining 30 GH joints. The kappa coefficient between these investigations was 0.202, showing poor agreement. These results showed poor agreement between the clinical assessment of swelling and effusion detected by US in GH joints. Therefore, US may considerably improve the accuracy of diagnosis of effusion in GH joints, which usually means synovitis in patients with RA.
Subject(s)
Arthritis, Rheumatoid/diagnostic imaging , Shoulder Joint/diagnostic imaging , Synovial Fluid/diagnostic imaging , Synovitis/diagnostic imaging , Adult , Aged , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/complications , Female , Humans , Male , Observer Variation , Physical Examination , Reproducibility of Results , Shoulder Joint/pathology , Synovitis/diagnosis , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to compare the relationship between clinically detected swelling and effusion diagnosed by ultrasonography (US) in elbow joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Fifty consecutive patients with RA entered the study and 20 healthy persons formed a control group. Altogether 100 elbow joints of the RA patients and 40 of the controls were studied. All the clinical assessments were performed by one doctor and the US investigations by the other and they were blinded to each others results. In 77 elbow joints of the RA patients the clinical assessment and the US gave similar results, whereas they differed in the remaining 23 joints. The kappa coefficient between these investigations was 0.371. In the control group no elbow joint showed either swelling in the clinical assessment or effusion in the US investigation. The results of this study indicate that clinical assessment of swelling and evaluation of effusion by US in elbow joints in patients with RA show only fair agreement. Thus, US may improve the accuracy of diagnosis of synovitis in many cases in these patients.
Subject(s)
Arthritis, Rheumatoid/diagnosis , Edema/diagnosis , Elbow Joint/diagnostic imaging , Palpation , Synovitis/diagnosis , Adult , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/complications , Edema/etiology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Reproducibility of Results , Severity of Illness Index , Synovitis/complications , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of periarticular corticosteroid treatment of the sacroiliac joint (SIJ) in non-spondylarthropathic patients with chronic low back pain in the region of the SIJ in a double blind, controlled study. METHODS: Twenty-four consecutive non-spondylarthropathic patients with chronic pain in the region of the SIJ entered the study. Thirteen patients were treated with a periarticular injection of methylprednisoloneacetate and lidocaine (MP group) of the SIJ, whereas 11 patients received isotonic sodium chloride and lidocaine. Clinical assessment at the onset of the study and after one month included the patient's estimation of pain in the region of the SIJ by the visual analogue scale (VAS) and by a pain index, which was calculated from tenderness and stressing tests on the SIJ. RESULTS: At the one month's follow-up examination both the VAS (p = 0.047) and the pain index (0.017) had improved significantly in the MP group compared with the non-MP group. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that periarticular injection of methylprednisolone may be effective in the treatment of pain in the region of the SIJ in non-spondylarthropathic patients.
