SynthesisRheumatology international2017
The role of ultrasound in diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis, what do we know? An updated review.
Synthesis in Rheumatology international, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Infrared thermography in the detection of arthritis: a systematic review of diagnostic performance compared with joint ultrasound.Rheumatology international · 2026Pooled it
- Hand ultrasound patterns in rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis: the role of ultrasound in the differential diagnosis.Rheumatology international · 2020Pooled it
- Differential Diagnosis of Inflammatory Arthropathies by Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography: A Systematic Literature Review.Frontiers in medicine · 2020Pooled it
- Ultrasound of sacroiliac joints in spondyloarthritis: a systematic review.Rheumatology international · 2018Pooled it
- The genetic puzzle of rheumatoid arthritis: Causes, progression, and treatment.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2025Review
- Predicting Rheumatoid Arthritis Development Using Hand Ultrasound and Machine Learning-A Two-Year Follow-Up Cohort Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- When Autoantibodies Are Missing: The Challenge of Seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis.Antibodies (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Article
- MRI wrist in early rheumatoid arthritis: reduction in inflammation assessed quantitatively during treatment period correlates best with clinical improvement.Skeletal radiology · 2021Article
- IL‑1β increases the expression of inflammatory factors in synovial fluid‑derived fibroblast‑like synoviocytes via activation of the NF‑κB‑mediated ERK‑STAT1 signaling pathway.Molecular medicine reports · 2019Article
- The value of joint ultrasonography in predicting arthritis in seropositive patients with arthralgia: a prospective cohort study.Arthritis research & therapy · 2018Article
- Reliability of ultrasound grading traditional score and new global OMERACT-EULAR score system (GLOESS): results from an inter- and intra-reading exercise by rheumatologists.Clinical rheumatology · 2017Article
- Comparison of the clinical effectiveness of US grading scoring system vs MRI in the diagnosis of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To clarify if musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS) improves early diagnosis of RA when added to the clinical examination of patients with possible arthritis. We performed a systematic literature review of original studies dealing with the value of MSUS in the early diagnosis of RA. Studies were identified using the databases of PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane library. Only studies in English investigating populations with non-classified arthritis or arthralgia were included. Fifteen original studies investigating the added value of MSUS in diagnosing RA were identified. They differed in sample size, study population, serology status, number of joints investigated and regarding the ultrasound machines and probes used. Thirteen out of 15 studies concluded that use of MSUS had an added value compared to clinical examination and laboratory evaluation alone for diagnosing RA. One study found that MSUS did not add substantial discriminatory value for predicting RA in an early arthritis cohort when added to routine assessment. However, in this study only 16 joints were examined (wrists and MTP 3-5 were not included). One study investigated only seropositive patients and found no significant advantage of MSUS on patient level although a trend was noted. Accordingly, two other studies found MSUS to be useful especially in seronegative patients. The use of MSUS adds value in diagnosing early RA, especially in seronegative arthritis. However, no study to date has documented any effect of DMARD initiation based on MSUS findings (subclinical arthritis) alone. More studies investigating this matter are warranted.
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Registered trials
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