Ultrasound grayscale histogram analysis for early rheumatoid arthritis cartilage assessment.

Xiu Zheng, Yuanjiao Tang, Min Li, Bingjie Liu, Li Qiu

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Article in Advances in rheumatology (London, England), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 authors.

Xiu ZhengDepartment of Medical Ultrasound, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Alley, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.

Yuanjiao TangDepartment of Medical Ultrasound, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Alley, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.

Min LiDepartment of Medical Ultrasound, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Alley, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.

Bingjie LiuDepartment of Medical Ultrasound, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Alley, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China.

Li QiuDepartment of Medical Ultrasound, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Alley, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China. qiulihx@scu.edu.cn.

Funding

Panzhihua Municipal Guiding Science and Technology Program Projects 2024ZD-S-12Sichuan International Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation/Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Program 2022YFH0112

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo evaluate the feasibility of ultrasound grayscale histogram analysis in detecting metacarpal head (MH) cartilage damage in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its correlation with clinical parameters.

methodsThis cross-sectional study enrolled 50 RA patients and 50 healthy controls (HCs). Bilateral MH2-5 cartilages were scanned using a Mindray Resona R9 ultrasound system. Grayscale values were quantified via histogram analysis in standardized regions of interest. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) assessed reliability. Mann-Whitney U tests compared groups; Spearman correlation analyzed associations with disease duration and body mass index (BMI).

resultsRA patients exhibited significantly higher grayscale values in total MH (median: 48.6 vs. 44.8, P < 0.001), MH2 (46.4 vs. 42.7, P = 0.015), and MH3 (48.6 vs. 43.4, P = 0.006) compared to HCs. ICC demonstrated excellent intra- (0.905–0.945) and inter-observer (0.861–0.908) reliability. Weak correlations were observed between grayscale values and disease duration (r = 0.120, P = 0.001) or BMI (r = − 0.136, P < 0.001).

conclusionQuantitative grayscale histogram analysis of the metacarpal head cartilage demonstrates promising feasibility and provides valuable imaging evidence to support the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.

Indexed as

Arthritis, RheumatoidCartilage, ArticularMetacarpal BonesAdultAgedCase-Control StudiesCross-Sectional StudiesEarly DiagnosisFeasibility StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMetacarpophalangeal JointMiddle AgedReproducibility of ResultsUltrasonographyCartilageGrayscaleMetacarpal headRheumatoid arthritisUltrasonography

Identifiers

PMID41225574

DOI10.1186/s42358-025-00489-w

PMCPMC13488821

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.