Three-dimensional (3D) volumetric ultrasonography (US) is an interesting tool that could improve the traditional approach to musculoskeletal US in rheumatology, due to its virtual operator independence and reduced examination time. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of 3DUS in the detection of bone @entity2681 in hand and wrist joints of early @entity309 (ERA) @entity1 , with computed tomography (CT) as the reference method. Twenty ERA @entity1 without @entity2681 on standard radiography of hands and wrists underwent 3DUS and CT evaluation of eleven joints: radiocarpal, intercarpal, ulnocarpal, second to fifth metacarpo-phalangeal (MCP), and second to fifth proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints of dominant hand. Eleven (55.0  %) @entity1 were erosive with CT and ten of them were erosive also at 3DUS evaluation. In five @entity1 , 3DUS identified cortical breaks that were not @entity2681 at CT evaluation. Considering CT as the gold standard to identify erosive @entity1 , the 3DUS sensitivity, specificity, @entity2286 , and NPV were 0.9, 0.55, 0.71, and 0.83, respectively. A total of 32 @entity2681 were detected with CT, 15 of them were also observed at the same sites with 3DUS, whereas 17 were not seen on 3DUS evaluation. The majority of these 3DUS false-negative @entity2681 were in the wrist joints. Furthermore, 18 @entity2681 recorded by 3DUS were false positive. The majority of these 3DUS false-positive @entity2681 were located at PIP joints. This study underlines the limits of 3DUS in detecting individual bone erosion, mostly at the wrist, despite the good sensitivity in identifying erosive @entity1 .

Detection of bone erosions in early XXXX : 3D ultrasonography versus computed tomography.

@entity2681 :: ('MESH:D014077', 'Disease') :: ['erosions'] @entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity2286 :: ('12211', 'Species') :: ['PPV'] @entity309 :: ('MESH:D001172', 'Disease') :: ['rheumatoid arthritis']
@entity309 :: (MESH:D001172,Disease) :: ['rheumatoid arthritis']
