This task force has produced a consensus-based comprehensive and practical framework on standardised procedures for MSUS imaging in rheumatology.

The objective of this study is to evaluate inter-reader entheses ultrasound (US) reliability and the influence of the type of image or degree of sonographer experience on US reliability in patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA). Eighteen Latin American ultrasonographers with different experience took part in an US reading exercise evaluating 60 entheseal images (50 % static images and 50 % videos) from healthy controls and SpA patients. The following sonographic lesions were assessed: structure, thickness, bone proliferation/tendon calcification, erosions, bursitis, and Doppler signal. Another group of three experts with significant experience in entheses US read all images too. Inter-reader reliability among participants and experts was calculated by the Cohen's kappa coefficient. Thresholds for kappa values were <0.2 poor, 0.21-0.4 fair, 0.41-0.6 moderate, 0.61-0.8 good, and 0.81-1 excellent. Furthermore, the results for the expert group were stratified based on the type of image. Kappa correlation coefficients among participants, showed variability depending on the type of lesion, being fair for structure and thickness, moderate for calcifications, erosions, and bursitis, and excellent for Doppler signal. Inter-reader reliability among experts was higher, being moderate for structure and thickness, good for calcifications and bursitis, and excellent for erosions and Doppler. Inter-reader reliability for assessing calcification and structure using static images was significantly higher than for videos. Overall inter-reader reliability for assessing entheses by US in SpA is moderate to excellent for most of the lesions. However, special training seems fundamental to achieve better inter-reader reliability. Moreover, the type of image influenced these results, where evaluation of entheses by videos was more difficult than by static images.

Formal, structured and continuous training in musculoskeletal ultrasound would bring a good to excellent reproducibility in rheumatological hands with a high reliability in real time acquisition BS, DS and CS modalities for scoring synovitis in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis.

AB0402-Table 1. Cardiorenal continuum features of rheumatoid arthritis patients (%) Features Rituximab group Control group PR-C

Por medio de un estudio de casos y controles se analizaron las historias de 297 pacientes con lupus eritematoso sistémico, atendidos en la consulta externa del Servicio de Reumatología del Hospital Universitario San Vicente de Paúl, en Medellín, Colombia, entre 1970 y 1987. Se documentó compromiso renal en 156 (52.5%). Hubo 94 que presentaron alteraciones en el sedimento urinario sin evidencia clínica de lesión renal. La nefropatía como primera manifestación de la enfermedad se encontró en 14 pacientes (4.7% del grupo total); en 48 de los que tenían neuropatía (30.8%) se halló la proteinuria en rangos nefróticos; en 19 (6.4%) hubo insuficiencia renal aguda y en 15 (5.0%) insuficiencia renal crónica. Desde el punto de vista histológico se estudiaron 79 biopsias renales; de ellas 7 (8.g%) fueron clasificadas como glomerulonefritls (GN) mesangial; 17 (21.5%) como GN proliferativa focal; 38 (48.1%) como GN proliferativa difusa y 9 (11.4%) como GN membranosa. La frecuencia de las siguientes manifestaciones fue significativamente mayor en pacientes con nefropatía: livedo reticularis, vasculitis, úlceras orales, tromboflebitis, psicosis, cefalea y depresión.