Diagnostic value of Ultrasonography in the detection of Bone Erosions in patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: a comparison with Conventional Radiography

OBJECTIVE: Rheumatoid arthritis (AR) is the most common systemic inflammatory disease of joints, with prevalence of 1% worldwide. Bone erosion (BE) is a central feature of rheumatoid arthritis and is associated with disease severity and poor functional outcome. Conventional Radiography (CR) and Ultrasonography (US) play an important role in the diagnosis of RA. The aim of this study was to compare the value of two methods in the detection of BE in AR patients. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 111 patients with confirmed RA have been randomly selected and were studied. A checklist which includes demographic information such as age, gender, place of residence, history of smoking, education level and history of rheumatologic disease was completed for all patients, and then radiography and high-resolution US of dominant hands and wrists of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint were performed. Collected data was analysed by statistical methods in SPSS version 22. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that there is no significant difference between these two methods in detection of BE. In age groups < 44 years old, US with 98% had more sensitivity than CR with 89%. CONCLUSION: Results showed that there is no significant difference in diagnostic value of US in bone erosion in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, in comparison with CR in terms of gender and diagnosis for the existence of erosions; however, in determining the amount of BE in age groups < 44 years old, US has better performance than CR.