title: Musculoskeletal ultrasound and other imaging modalities in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review refers to the use of musculoskeletal ultrasound in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) both in clinical practice and research. Furthermore, other novel sensitive imaging modalities (high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography and fluorescence optical imaging) are introduced in this article.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Recently published ultrasound studies presented power Doppler activity by ultrasound highly predictive for later radiographic erosions in patients with RA. Another study presented synovitis detected by ultrasound being predictive of subsequent structural radiographic destruction irrespective of the ultrasound modality (grayscale ultrasound/power Doppler ultrasound). Further studies are currently under way which prove ultrasound findings as imaging biomarkers in the destructive process of RA. Other introduced novel imaging modalities are in the validation process to prove their impact and significance in inflammatory joint diseases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The introduced imaging modalities show different sensitivities and specificities as well as strength and weakness belonging to the assessment of inflammation, differentiation of the involved structures and radiological progression. The review tries to give an answer regarding how to best integrate them into daily clinical practice with the aim to improve the diagnostic algorithms, the daily patient care and, furthermore, the disease's outcome.
authors: Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Ohrndorf
authors: Stephanie G
authors: SG
authors: Werner
authors: Stephanie
authors: S
authors: Finzel
authors: Marina
authors: M
authors: Backhaus
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D009141:Musculoskeletal System / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods; D013585:Synovitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000379:methods