Ultrasonography of the shoulder in patients with rheumatoid arthritis : comparison with clinical examination

VernacularTitle:超声检查类风湿关节炎患者肩关节病变的应用价值
Author: Shilin LI ; Guorong Lü ; Ling LIN ; Jinyi XIAO
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Ultrasonography; Arthritis,rheumatoid; Shoulder joint
From: Chinese Journal of Ultrasonography 2012;21(6):507-510
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
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.