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DOI: 10.48087/BJMS.2026.130310
Authors: Sihem KOURTAA, Assia HADDOUCHE, Sabrina HAID, Naouel KHALDOUN, Fella HANNI
Affiliations: Service de rhumatologie, EHS Ben Aknoun, Alger ; Université des Sciences et Santé, faculté de médecine – Algérie.
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the association between ultrasonographic inflammatory findings in hand osteoarthritis (HOA) and clinical symptoms. Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on 116 patients fulfilling the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for hand osteoarthritis, graded using the modified Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) radiographic scoring system. Twenty-eight joints per patient were examined, and both inflammatory ultrasonographic findings and clinical data were collected, including tender and swollen joint counts, global finger pain intensity, pain on palpation, stiffness, fatigue, and functional impairment assessed by the Dreiser index. Correlations between clinical and ultrasonographic scores were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results: A total of 3,248 joints were examined. Synovitis was strongly correlated with joint swelling and moderately correlated with joint pain and the Dreiser score. Effusion was weakly associated with all clinical scores except fatigue. Power Doppler signal showed a significant but weak association, restricted to clinical synovitis. Conclusion: Ultrasono-graphically detected inflammatory lesions (synovitis and effusion) are associated with the clinical manifestations of hand osteoarthritis, particularly at the joint level.
Keywords: digital osteoarthritis, pain, synovitis, musculoskeletal ultrasound.