Ultrasonographic evaluation of knee joint cartilage in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

The non-invasive methods used to study joint cartilage are restricted in their scope. No direct visualization of the joint cartilage is possible in conventional radiology and tomography and the decrease in joint space is only indirect evidence for joint destruction. CT is a radiologic method for direct visualization of joint cartilage but its diagnostic precision in the evaluation of early cartilage lesions is limited because it can not produce an image in a plane other than the transversal plane perpendicular to the direction of the main axis of the body and because it has limited spatial resolution. Other methods for direct visualization of joint cartilage are arthrography and arthroscopy which are little used in clinical practice because of their invasiveness and limited indications. MRI is a promising technique but its usage is limited by the high price and limited accessibility. Our object in the present study was to evaluate the significance of arthro-sonography in the diagnosis of early arthritic lesions of knee cartilage, based on the ultrasonographic assessment of the joint surface and cartilage thickness. Femoral cartilage was our choice for the study as there is statistically well documented high incidence of early arthritic changes in this area; moreover, the area is easily accessible for ultrasound evaluation using a scan perpendicular to the articular surface, incl. the cases with complete flexion of the knee joint, where the pressure areas of the condyles are apositioned to the tibial plateau. Using a 7.5 MHz transducer we managed to measure and document early arthritic changes in joint thickness and the contour of the joint surfaces before they can be detected using routine radiologic methods.