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Ultrasound may aid accurate assessment of subtalar joint in patients with JIA
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Among patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, use of ultrasound may increase the accuracy when assessing subtalar joint involvement, according to results.
Researchers performed clinical and ultrasound assessments in 50 ankles in patients with clinically active juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and 10 healthy juveniles. They used lateral, medial and posterior scanning approaches to investigate abnormalities of the subtalar joint on ultrasound and scored the findings semi-quantitatively.
Results showed they detected synovitis in 48% of subtalar joints by clinical evaluation and in 54% of subtalar joints by ultrasound. Although ultrasound detected synovitis in 38% of subtalar joints deemed as normal on clinical evaluation, however it produced a negative result in 29% of subtalar joints diagnosed as having involvement on clinical examination.
There was fair agreement between the ultrasound and clinical assessments, according to results.
Researchers found the lateral scanning approach more frequently detected ultrasound abnormalities. It had satisfactory intra-observer and interobserver agreement both for detecting involvement and scoring ultrasound abnormalities. Results also showed patients with subtalar joints that had ultrasound abnormalities identified in the medial and/or posterior side had ultrasound abnormalities on the lateral scanning approach, as well. However, the reverse was not true, according to researchers.
Of the 17 subtalar joints assessed in the healthy controls, none showed ultrasound abnormalities. – by Casey Tingle
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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