Ultrasonographic assessment of rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic review.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the reliability of ultrasound for the detection of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Study Design: Systematic Review. Setting: The University of Lahore. Period: 2001 to 2021. Material & Methods: A systematic exploration of the literature was achieved by collecting articles related to our topic. Articles reporting the reliability result for the assessment of rheumatoid arthritis by ultrasonography were included in this study. Exclusion criteria were articles reporting large joints including shoulder and knees as well as that articles which were not reporting sufficient information of sensitivity and specificity of US regarding RA. These articles were provided by an online source of PubMed, google scholar, research gate, Embase, Wiley online library, BMJ Journal, AJR, Springer, and Elesvier link. Results: Results shows that the specificity and sensitivity of gray-scale US for synovitis assessment ranged from 50% to 90.9% and 47.4% to 100% respectively, specificity and sensitivity of Power Doppler ultrasonography for the evaluation of synovitis hypervascularity ranged from 60% to 98% and 21% to 92% respectively, and specificity and sensitivity of ultrasonography to assess the bone erosion in rheumatoid arthritis patients ranged from 69% to 98.7% and 35.9% to 83% respectively. Conclusion: This systematic review concluded that ultrasound is a vital diagnostic tool as compared to X-ray, CT, MRI, clinical and laboratory examination for the evaluation of bone erosion, synovitis, and synovial hypervascularity.