THURSDAY, July 19 (HealthDay News) -- Ultrasound can be used as a non-invasive way to diagnose gout by detecting the monosodium urate crystal deposits in joints, researchers report in the July issue of Rheumatology.
Ralf G. Thiele, M.D., from Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J., and a colleague retrospectively compared ultrasonography images of 37 joints from 23 patients with monosodium urate crystal-proven gout and 33 joints from 23 patients with rheumatic conditions other than gout.
The researchers found that 92 percent of gouty joints had "a hyperechoic, irregular band over the superficial margin of the articular cartilage described as a double contour sign," and all gouty metatarsophalangeal (MTP) and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints had "hypoechoic to hyperechoic, inhomogeneous material surrounded by a small anechoic rim, representing tophaceous material." In addition, 65 percent of MTP joints and 25 percent of MCP joints had erosions adjacent to tophaceous material.
"Ultrasonography can detect deposition of monosodium urate crystals on cartilaginous surfaces as well as tophaceous material and typical erosions," the authors conclude. "Ultrasonography may serve as a non-invasive means to diagnose gout."
Abstract
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