432
Ultrasound Versus Tender Joints
Tender and swollen joints are the corner stone for the clinical disease activity assess-
ment, as they enable the treating rheumatologist to detect and quantify synovitis in
RA patients [ 61 ]. Furthermore, joint counts help steer treatment decisions to achieve
the aimed clinical remission, which composes a vital part of the overarching “treat-
ing to target” principle [ 62 ]. Due to the importance of joint counts in disease activity
assessment, and the fact that formal joint counts are not routinely performed by the
rheumatologists in the standard clinical practice, possibly limited by constraints of
Fig. 18.11 Longitudinal image of a bone erosion with PD signal of the calcaneous
Fig. 18.12 Longitudinal image of a hypoechoic thickened common extensor tendon insertion with
PD signal
J. Uson and Y. El Miedany