Ultrasound of the plantar foot: a guide for the assessment of plantar intrinsic muscles.

Plantar intrinsic muscles play a pivotal role in posture control and gait dynamics. They help maintain the longitudinal and transverse arches of the foot, and they regulate the degree and velocity of arch deformation during walking or running. Consequently, pathologies affecting the plantar intrinsic muscles (for instance, acquired and inherited neuropathies) lead to foot deformity, gait disorders, and painful syndromes.

Ultrasound of the palmar aspect of the hand: normal anatomy and clinical applications of intrinsic muscles imaging.

Intrinsic hand muscles play a fundamental role in tuning the fine motricity of the hand and may be affected by several pathologic conditions, including traumatic injuries, atrophic changes induced by denervation, and space-occupying masses. Modern hand surgery techniques allow to target several hand muscle pathologies and, as a direct consequence, requests for hand imaging now carry increasingly complex diagnostic questions. The progressive refinement of ultrasound technology and the current availability of high and ultra-high frequency linear transducers that allow the investigation of intrinsic hand muscles and tendons with incomparable resolution have made this modality an essential tool for the evaluation of pathological processes involving these tiny structures.

Imaging of Anatomical Variants Around the Wrist and Hand.

Wrist and hand anatomy may present several clinically relevant variants that involve bones, muscles, tendons, and nerves. Thorough knowledge of these abnormalities and their appearance in imaging studies is useful for proper management. In particular, it is necessary to differentiate the incidental findings that do not represent a trigger for a specific syndrome from those anomalies causing symptoms and functional impairment.

High-resolution ultrasound of peripheral neuropathies in rheumatological patients: An overview of clinical applications and imaging findings.

Peripheral neuropathies are surprisingly common and can be associated with a number of conditions, including rheumatological diseases. Whether the co-existence of peripheral neuropathies with rheumatological disorders is coincidental or related to a common pathogenic mechanism, these disabling conditions can affect the outcome of rheumatological patients and should be targeted with specific treatment. The clinical presentation of peripheral neuropathy can be multifaceted and difficult to recognize in polysymptomatic patients.

High-Resolution Ultrasound of Facial Muscles: Sonoanatomy, Scanning Technique, and Pathological Cases.

The aim of the present work is to review the sonographic appearance of facial muscles with high-frequency transducers and to illustrate a step-by-step scanning technique that enables an effective evaluation of them. In addition, we highlighted the clinical application showing some pathological cases demonstrated with ultrasound (US). The recent technological advances have greatly enlarged the potential of high-resolution US in the evaluation of the face.

High-resolution ultrasound of spigelian and groin hernias: a closer look at fascial architecture and aponeurotic passageways.

From the clinical point of view, a proper diagnosis of spigelian, inguinal and femoral hernias may be relevant for orienting the patient's management, as these conditions carry a different risk of complications and require specific approaches and treatments. Imaging may play a significant role in the diagnostic work-up of patients with suspected abdominal hernias, as the identification and categorization of these conditions is often unfeasible on clinical ground. Ultrasound imaging is particularly suited for this purpose, owing to its dynamic capabilities, high accuracy, low cost and wide availability.