title: Ultrasound propagation speed in arthritic synovial tissue.
abstract: Ultrasonic properties of knee synovial tissues destroyed by arthritis were studied by analysing 40 tissue specimens from 21 patients using an ultrasound echo meter and an optical microscope. The idea was to compare pathological findings to ultrasound propagation speeds, and to try to find any relation between them. The fresh specimens were first measured by the echo meter to collect data for statistical calculations of the propagation speed vs. different pathological properties. Before pathological studies, the specimens were fixed in formalin solution. The connective and fat tissues were evaluated within a resolution of 5% and expressed in percentages (0-100%). Inflammatory cells, edema and villus formation were also evaluated. As results, we obtained several charts of ultrasound propagation speed and their trends in the function of different properties. It could be seen that the trend of the propagation speed increased from 1515 m/s to 1565 m/s when the percentage amount of connective tissue increased from 30% to 90%. The trend of the speed decreased from 1560 m/s to 1480 m/s when the share of fat tissue increased from 0 to 60%. The same phenomenon is already well known from some other tissues. A special new result was that the speed varied in a remarkable range of 1490-1660 m/s in samples of 0% fat and high connective tissue content. The overall average of the ultrasound propagation speed in the specimens was 1548 m/s, and the average of the standard deviations of measurements (each specimen was measured at least twice) of each tissue specimen was 8.3 m/s.
authors.affiliation: Päivärinne Hospital, Muhos, Finland.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Alasaarela
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Alasaarela
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Räsänen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001168:Arthritis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D013583:Synovial Membrane / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography