Musculoskeletal Ultrasound in Rheumatology - New Horizons

Abstract

Musculoskeletal ultrasound is a non-ionizing, cheap, reproducible, reliable imaging method, well accepted by the patients, that plays an important role in daily rheumatology practice. It can be used to assess joint and periarticular involvement, including tendon, bursae, enthesis, skin thickness, nails, lung and large vessels. Musculoskeletal ultrasound is more sensitive than physical examination, improves the diagnostic process, monitoring of treatment response, the accuracy of joint and soft tissue injections. It has proved its role as an important imaging modality in a number of rheumatic diseases-inflammatory joint diseases, systemic connective tissue diseases, large-vessel vasculitides, and degenerative and metabolic bone diseases.