RESEARCH ARTICLE
Knee Pain Examined under Musculoskeletal Ultrasonography: Experience from a Community-based Rheumatology Practice – A Cross-sectional Study
Md Abu Bakar Siddiq1, 2, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2023Volume: 17
E-location ID: e187431292301310
Publisher ID: e187431292301310
DOI: 10.2174/18743129-v17-230223-2022-10
Article History:
Received Date: 28/07/2022Revision Received Date: 08/01/2023
Acceptance Date: 13/01/2023
Electronic publication date: 30/03/2023
Collection year: 2023
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Diagnostic musculoskeletal ultrasonogram (MSUS) in musculoskeletal pain practice has increased. MSUS helps delineate extra-and intra-articular structures that are not visible on X-ray.
Objective:
Explore knee pain under ultrasonogram in a primary care rheumatology (PCR) facility.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was performed over six months (January 1 and June 30, 2021) to explore knee pain in a community-based PCR setting. A physician registered in musculoskeletal (RMSK) ultrasonogram examined all patients and documented data in a prefabricated questionnaire. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, 28.0.1.1) was used to analyze data. Quantitative and categorical variables were presented with frequency and percentage. The Mann-Whitney-U test assessed the correlation between categorical variables; p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results:
A total of 118 knees of 92 patients were included. Following are MSUS-depicted structural changes: medial joint line osteophytes (91.3%), medial femoral condyle (MFC), cartilage echogenicity (78.3%), synovial plica (76%), knee effusion (61.9%), synovial membrane thickening (54.3%), increased medial collateral ligament (MCL) thickness (42.4), reduced trochlear and MFC thickness (36.9%), Baker's cyst (35.8%), increased MFC thickness (31.5%), medial meniscal extrusion (MME) (27.2%), synovial hypertrophy (20.6%), increased trochlear cartilage thickness (20.6%), MM tear (18.5%), semitendinosus (SMT) bursitis (6.5%), loose body (6.5%), frond-like synovial mass (5.4%), MCL calcification (4.3%) and MM cyst (4.3%). There was a statistically significant correlation between the following variables: Knee effusion and synovial plica; reduced MFC thickness; MME and reduced MFC thickness and moderate osteophyte.
Conclusion:
High-frequency diagnostic ultrasound can depict knee pathology precisely. MSUS at the primary healthcare facility can minimize patient referral and burden over the tertiary setting and reduce overall expenditure.
