Doppler ultrasonography in rheumatoid arthritis therapy monitoring

Within the last decade, musculoskeletal ultrasonography is playing an increasingly important role in the evaluation and monitoring of patients with chronic infl ammatory arthritis. High-resolution musculoskeletal ultrasonography allows direct assessment of intra-articular and periarticular infl ammatory activity and structural damage in infl ammatory arthritis. There have been a growing number of studies on the criterion and construct validity of ultrasonography with color Doppler or power Doppler techniques for evaluating infl ammatory activity in rheumatoid arthritis. Ultrasonography has been proven to be more sensitive and reproducible than clinical evaluation in assessing rheumatoid joint infl ammation. Recent studies have demonstrated the responsiveness of grayscale and Doppler parameters in the monitoring of response to therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.