Department of Rheumatology, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Jesi, Ancona, Italy.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2014 Jan-Feb;32(1 Suppl 80):S85-90. Epub 2014 Feb 17.
Bone erosions are the hallmark of joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis and both their detection and increase in number and/or in size are indicative of a poor outcome. To date, conventional radiography is still the most common imaging tool adopted for detecting and scoring joint damage in daily clinical practice, in spite of its low sensitivity with respect computerised tomography, magnetic resonance imaging or ultrasound. Ultrasound is a rapidly evolving technique that is gaining an increasing success in the assessment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It permits an early detection and careful characterisation of bone erosions playing a key role in both diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Ultrasound presents several advantages over other imaging techniques: it is patient-friendly, safe and non-invasive, free of ionising radiation, less expensive, and permit multiple target assessment in real time without the need for external referral. The aim of this review is to compare conventional radiography and ultrasound in the assessment of bone erosions in RA in daily rheumatology practice and to provide insights into which modality can provide the optimal information for a desired outcome in a given clinical trial or practice situation.
骨侵蚀是类风湿关节炎关节损伤的标志，其检测以及数量和/或大小的增加均表明预后不良。迄今为止，尽管与计算机断层扫描、磁共振成像或超声相比，常规放射摄影术的敏感性较低，但它仍然是日常临床实践中用于检测和评分关节损伤的最常用影像学工具。超声是一种快速发展的技术，在评估类风湿关节炎患者方面取得了越来越大的成功。它可以早期检测和仔细描述骨侵蚀，在诊断和治疗过程中发挥关键作用。与其他影像学技术相比，超声具有以下几个优势：患者友好、安全且无创、无电离辐射、成本更低，并且可以实时对多个目标进行评估，而无需外部转诊。本文旨在比较常规放射摄影术和超声在日常风湿病实践中评估类风湿关节炎患者骨侵蚀中的作用，并深入了解哪种影像学方法可为特定临床试验或临床实践情况提供所需结果的最佳信息。
