Role of power Doppler sonography in evaluation of therapeutic response of the knee in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

The objective is to study the role of power Doppler sonography (PDS) in assessment of therapeutic response in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) of knee joint. Thirty patients (age range 3-11 years) of JRA with knee joint involvement were selected for this study. Clinical assessment and ultrasound was done on the same day and repeated at the end of second and sixth month of therapy.

Clinical and ultrasound assessment of the knee in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To correlate clinical features with ultrasound (USG) findings in the detection, quantification and follow up of inflammatory signs of knee in children with mono or pauciarticular juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA).

Methods: Thirty patients (11 girls, 19 boys) with pauciarticular JRA (14 with monoarticular and 16 with bilateral knee involvement) were studied. Mean disease duration was 10 months (range 2 months to 5 yr).

High resolution sonography for analysis of meniscal injuries.

High resolution ultrasonography was done prospectively in 51 adult patients with clinically suspected meniscal injuries to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of ultrasonography as a primary diagnostic tool and to see if it was possible to evaluate the site, extent and size of the tear. All cases were confirmed arthroscopically; ultrasonographic examination revealed inhomogenecity in 45 cases and this was accurate in 40 cases; in 3 cases ultrasonography gave a false positive result and in 2 cases the wrong meniscus was shown to be torn. The six cases with no findings on ultrasonography were proven to have no meniscal tear.

Microcephaly with plate-like cortical calcification.

Congenital malformations of the central nervous system have varied presentations depending on the stage of embryological development when the insult occurred. We report a neonate with microcephaly associated with plate-like cortical calcification, probably secondary to an unidentified insult at around 11-12 weeks post-conceptional age causing an arrest of the proliferative phase. The associated vasculopathy probably caused diffuse cortical calcification.