Ultrasound could make the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis considerably more accurate, aiding in recommendations for treatment. Treatment decisions can depend on how far the disease has progressed, and the only way to measure the progression of rheumatoid arthritisis to identify which of a patient’s joints show synovitis. Yet a recent study shows that doctors miss swelling in the shoulder joints of 30% of patients.
Ultrasound could make the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis considerably more accurate, aiding in recommendations for treatment. Treatment decisions can depend on how far the disease has progressed, and the only way to measure the progression of rheumatoid arthritisis to identify which of a patient's joints show synovitis. Yet a recent study shows that doctors miss swelling in the shoulder joints of 30% of patients.
Rheumatoid arthritis initially presents in small joints such as the fingers and toes, with inflammation and damage spreading to other joints. The presence of extra fluid in the shoulder joint is an indication of disease progression.
Dr. Reijo Luukkainen and colleagues in the rheumatology department at Satakunto Central Hospital in Rauma, Finland, compared ultrasound diagnosis of effusion in shoulder joints of rheumatoid arthritis patients with a doctor's diagnosis of swelling in the same joints. Effusion usually means synovitis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
They studied 100 shoulder joints in 50 consecutive patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 40 shoulder joints in 20 healthy controls. The clinical assessments were performed by one doctor and the ultrasound studies by another, both blinded to the other's results. The clinical examination and ultrasound had similar results in 70 of the rheumatoid arthritis patients' shoulder joints. In the remaining 30, ultrasound detected synovitis undetected by clinical exam.
The researchers concluded that ultrasound could considerably improve the accuracy of diagnosis for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
The Reading Room: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Cancer Screenings, and COVID-19
November 3rd 2020In this podcast episode, Dr. Shalom Kalnicki, from Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the disparities minority patients face with cancer screenings and what can be done to increase access during the pandemic.
Study Finds Transvaginal Ultrasound Unreliable for Detecting Endometrial Cancer in Black Patients
July 3rd 2024Utilizing a threshold of less than 5 mm of ultrasound-measured endometrial thickness, the authors of a new study noted an 11.4 percent false-negative probability for endometrial cancer in Black patients.
New Study Shows Non-Radiologists Interpreting 28 Percent of Imaging for Medicare Patients
June 28th 2024While radiologists interpreted approximately 99 percent of all non-cardiac CT, MRI and nuclear medicine studies in hospital and emergency department settings for Medicare beneficiaries, new research shows significantly less radiologist review of cardiac imaging and office-based imaging.
FDA Clears Pocket-Sized ECG System and AI Technology for Detection of Cardiac Conditions
June 27th 2024Using a reduced leadset and deep neural network algorithms trained on more than 175 million electrocardiograms, the KAI 12L technology reportedly detects up to 35 cardiac determinations, including acute myocardial infarction.