Power Doppler ultrasonographic evaluation of enthesitis in psoriatic arthritis. A multi-center study

Enthesitis represents a frequent abnormality in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The involvement of peripheral entheses can be asymptomatic and underestimated by clinical examination and can be detected only by imaging techniques [1,2]. Recently, ultrasound (US) has demonstrated to be a valuable tool in the assessment of entheseal involvement in spondylarthropathies (SpA), providing depiction of entheseal abnormalities at all stages of the disease process [1,3–5]. However, only limited focus on extensive evaluation of peripheral enthesitis in PsA by US has been developed, so far. Thus, by using US combined with power Doppler (PD) and including both assessment of inflammatory changes and structural alterations, the aims of the present study were to investigate the prevalence and severity of peripheral entheses involvement in PsA and to compare PDUS-detected findings with clinical and laboratory data.