Reliability assessment of the definition of ultrasound enthesitis in SpA: results of a large, multicentre, international, web-based study.

Objectives: To investigate the reliability of the OMERACT US Task Force definition of US enthesitis in SpA.

Methods: In this web exercise, based on the evaluation of 101 images and 39 clips of the main entheses of the lower limbs, the elementary components included in the OMERACT definition of US enthesitis in SpA (hypoechoic areas, entheseal thickening, power Doppler signal at the enthesis, enthesophytes/calcifications, bone erosions) were assessed by 47 rheumatologists from 37 rheumatology centres in 15 countries. Inter- and intra-observer reliability of the US components of enthesitis was calculated using Light's kappa, Cohen's kappa, Prevalence And Bias Adjusted Kappa (PABAK) and their 95% CIs.

Entheseal involvement in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: an ultrasound study.

Objectives: The main objective of this study is to explore the prevalence and distribution of entheseal US changes in a cohort of SLE patients, taking as controls a group including both PsA patients and healthy subjects. The secondary objective is to investigate the correlation between the US findings and the clinical and serological data in SLE patients.

Methods: Clinical and US assessment of quadriceps, patellar and Achilles tendons, and plantar fascia entheses were performed by independent rheumatologists on 65 patients with SLE, 50 patients with PsA and 50 healthy subjects.

Identification of calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease (CPPD) by ultrasound: reliability of the OMERACT definitions in an extended set of joints-an international multiobserver study by the OMERACT Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease Ultrasound Subtask Force.

Objectives: To assess the reliability of the OMERACT ultrasound (US) definitions for the identification of calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease (CPPD) at the metacarpal-phalangeal, triangular fibrocartilage of the wrist (TFC), acromioclavicular (AC) and hip joints.

Methods: A web-based exercise and subsequent patient-based exercise were carried out. A panel of 30 OMERACT members, participated at the web-based exercise by evaluating twice a set of US images for the presence/absence of CPPD.

Entheseal involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus: are we missing something?

Background Musculoskeletal involvement is extremely common in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Continuing the research initiated in patients with inflammatory arthritis, recent studies have shown the potential role of musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) in the evaluation of clinical and subclinical lupus synovitis. The inflammatory process in SLE is traditionally considered to be localized at synovial tissue areas while enthesis is not included among the possible targets of the disease.