Sonography for assessment of haemophilic arthropathy in children: a systematic protocol.

Full Abstract

Radiological imaging of joints in children with haemophilia is important to detect abnormalities, grade their severity and monitor the effects of treatment. Scoring systems for staging haemophilic arthropathy have been developed based on plain film or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Radiographs alone may be inadequate for evaluating joint disease in children with haemophilia on prophylaxis while MRI may be difficult to access and require the child to be sedated. Sonography can be a useful complementary modality in the evaluation of haemophilic arthropathy that is readily available and does not require the child to be sedated. In this paper, we briefly review the current imaging scales available for the assessment of haemophilic arthropathy and present a systematic protocol for sonographic assessment of the knee and ankle in haemophilic children along with examples of findings in joint effusion/hemarthrosis, synovial hypertrophy and cartilage loss. Also, we correlate the ultrasound findings with the corresponding MRI images demonstrating the anatomic planes used for imaging acquisition. Sonography is a promising technique for the assessment of soft tissue changes which are the earliest findings in haemophilic arthropathy. Further investigation is required for evaluation of osteochondral changes given limitations of sonography in this regard and in minimizing operator dependency, especially if applied in multicentric clinical trials.

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Author information

Author/s: Zukotynski, K (K); Jarrin, J (J); Babyn, P S (PS); Carcao, M (M); Pazmino-Canizares, J (J); Stain, A M (AM); Doria, A S (AS);

Affiliation: Department of Medical Imaging, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Haemophilia : the official journal of the World Federation of Hemophilia (Haemophilia), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-May; vol 13 (issue 3) : pp 293-304

Dates: Created 2007/05/14; Completed 2007/09/26; Revised 2008/04/07;

PMID: 17498079, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

Comments and Corrections

CommentIn: Haemophilia. 2008 Jan;14(1):145-6. (PMID: 18028396)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Ankle Joint - pathology; ultrasonography
Child
Child, Preschool
Hemarthrosis - diagnosis
Hemophilia A - diagnosis

Humans
Infant
Knee Joint - pathology; ultrasonography
Severity of Illness Index
Ultrasonography - methods

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