Learning objectives
In this poster we will illustrate the sonographic spectrum of both adult and juvenile forms of Rheumatoid Arthritis,
focusing on the value of ultrasonography in early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring.
Furthermore we will emphasize particularities exclusive to arthritides in children and to their sonographic joint evaluation.
Background
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic progressive systemic inflammatory disease characterized by persistent symmetric polyarthritis.
The hallmark feature of this condition is synovial inflammation,
affecting any of the synovial joints as well as tendon sheaths.
In the course of the disease,
adjacent structures such as bones,
tendons and ligaments will be involved.
RA affects approximately 1% of the adult population,
increasing with age and peaking at 45 - 65 years.
It is two to three times more common in women.
[1]
The hands are the...
Imaging findings OR Procedure details
Technical aspects of sonographic joint evaluation in Rheumatoid Arthritis
In order to obtain uniform results in sonographic joint evaluation of RA patients certain requisites need to be fulfilled:
The examination should be performed in a room with sustained mild temperature (20ºC).
On arrival,
patients should wait approximately 20 minutes to acclimatize to the ambient temperature.
The examination should be performed with high resolution probes (>10 MHz),
with gray scale (GS) US and Power Doppler (PD) US,
to image both synovial proliferation and synovial vascularisation.
As...
Conclusion
RA and JIA are debilitating disorders that evolve to mutilating joint destruction in the absence of timely therapeutic care.
Nowadays US may support the diagnosing of an early inflammatory arthritis,
allowing for therapy implementation before irreversible joint destruction has occurred.
Furthermore by discriminating between active and inactive synovial proliferation US may aid therapeutic monitoring and improve patient management.
References
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