%0 Journal Article
%T Inter -and intraobserver variation of ultrasonographic cartilage thickness assessments in small and large joints in healthy children
%A Anne Spannow
%A Mogens Pfeiffer-Jensen
%A Niels Andersen
%A Elisabeth Stenb£żg
%A Troels Herlin
%J Pediatric Rheumatology
%D 2009
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1546-0096-7-12
%X 740 joints of 74 healthy Caucasian children (27 girls/47 boys), aged 11.3 (7.11 ¨C 16) years were examined with bilateral US in 5 preselected joints to assess the interobserver variability. In 17 of these children (6 girls/11 boys), aged 10.1(7.11¨C11.1) years, 170 joints was examined in an intraobserver sub study, with a 2 week interval between the first and second examination.In this study we found a good inter- and intraobserver agreement expressed as a coefficient of variation (CV) less than 10% in the knee (CV = 9.5%interobserver and 5.9%intraobservserI, 9.3%intraobserverII respectively for the two intraobserver measurements) and fairly good for the MCP joints (CV = 11.9%interobserver, 12.9%intraobserverI and 11.9%intraobsevrerII). In the ankle and PIP joints the inter- and intraobserver agreement was within an acceptable limit (CV<20%) but not for the wrist joint (CV>26%). We found no difference in cartilage thickness between the left and right extremity in the investigated joints.We found a good inter -and intraobserver agreement when measuring cartilage thickness with US. The inter- and intraobserver variation seemed not to be related to joint size. These findings suggest that positioning of the joint and the transducer is of major importance for reproducible US measurements. We found no difference in joint cartilage thickness between the left and right extremity in any of the examined joint of the healthy children. This is an important finding giving the opportunity of using the non-affected extremity as a reference when assessing articular joint cartilage damage in JIA.There is an increasing interest among pediatric rheumatologist for using musculoskeletal ultrasonography as an investigative tool for children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) [1-3]. In JIA, early detection of inflammatory joint pathologies ideally would allow clinicians to initiate relevant therapies in a timely manner preventing destruction of the cartilaginous tissue and periarticul
%U http://www.ped-rheum.com/content/7/1/12