Carpal Bone Erosion in Rheumatoid Arthritis :Diagnostic Value

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disease characterized by proliferative hyper vascularized synovitis which primarily affects synovial joints. Synovium of bursa; tendon sheaths; attachment sites of cartilage, ligament, and tendons to the bone; soft tissue; and bones can be mentioned among the other areas under influence of RA. Changes happen to be symmetrical and may present as fusiform soft tissue swelling, regional osteoporosis, marginal-central erosions, cartilage damage, joint destruction, narrowing of joint space and fibrous ankyloses. Wrist, metacarpophalangeal and metatarsophalangeal joints are the first sites to be affected .Over the past few years, an increasing number of rheumatologists have started to use US in the clinical setting of the early arthritis clinic. While US allows for an accurate and non-invasive multisite assessment of joint involvement in patients with RA, time for US examination is not infinite