MAGNETIC RESONANCE AND ULTRASONOGRAPHY FUSION IMAGING IN HAND OSTEOARTHRITIS
3. [AB0649] MAGNETIC RESONANCE AND ULTRASONOGRAPHY FUSION IMAGING IN HAND OSTEOARTHRITIS
a. iagnocco*1, c. perella1, e. sabatini1, s. takanen1, g. valesini1
1rheumatology unit, sapienza university of rome, rome, Italy
Background: Fusion imaging is a new technique in which images from ultrasonography (US) and magnetic resonance (MR) are overlapped. This new application seems to be particularly valuable in the assessment of musculoskeletal structures that are involved in rheumatic diseases.
Objectives: the aim of our study was to evaluate the concordance between US and MR in detecting soft tissue and bony abnormalities in two patients with hand osteoarthritis (OA) by using a Virtual Navigator system, integrated in the US equipment.
Methods: Two consecutive female patients, with hand OA, diagnosed according to ACR criteria were included in the study. Clinical assessment, physical examination, hand X-ray and laboratory tests were also performed. MR study of the dominant hand was previously performed in both patients, using T1, T2 and STIR sequences. Then, the MR images were recorded in a ultrasound ESAOTE MyLab70XV machine equipped with a “virtual navigator” system and the US evaluation was performed in the MCP, PIP and DIP joints of both patients, using a high resolution 18MHz linear probe.
Results: The overlapping between US and MR clearly showed images produced by the two tools visualizing articular and periarticular soft tissues as well as bony components. A striking concordance in the visualization of the bony profile was found. Particularly, in one of the two patients, both the MRI and the US exams showed the presence of a pronounced osteophyte on the dorsal aspect of the II MCP joint, that previous hand X-ray had not shown.
Conclusion: The compounding of the images from US and MR, the fusion imaging tool, gives the US operator the possibility to obtain a very complete set of information that couldn’t be got with one tool at a time. Probably the most promising application of this new technology consists on the possibility to perform an accurate follow up of the disease and therapy monitoring by identifying the same anatomical landmarks within the area of interest during the subsequent scheduled exams.
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3- Suga K, Yasuhiko K, Iwanaga H, Functional mechanism of lung mosaic CT attenuation: assessment with deep-inspiration breath-hold perfusion SPECT-CT fusion imaging and non-breath-hold Technegas SPECT. Acta Radiol. 2009 Jan;50(1):34-41
Disclosure of Interest: None declared.