[Ultrasonography in chronic inflammatory rheumatic and connective tissue disorders].

Musculoskeletal ultrasonography is now widely used by almost all rheumatologists thanks to an improvement in the quality of ultrasound unit and probe and to the systematic teaching of this imaging technique to the rheumatology fellows. Applications have broadened from the study of degenerative and mechanical diseases to inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Ultrasound is more sensitive than clinical examination. Power Doppler allows the direct visualisation of inflammation within the tissues. Finally, it is a prognostic tool helping the physician in the management of the disease. This review will focus on the value and applications of ultrasonography in the 2 most frequent rheumatic diseases: rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis. We will also give some recent data on the usefulness of this imaging technique in the study of musculoskeletal manifestations associated with connective tissue disease.