Aim and Method: In a prospective study of nine men and eight women with suspected unilateral or bilateral plantar fasciitis, 23 symptomatic heels were examined by both high‐resolution ultrasound and a preplanned limited sagittal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol to assess the different signs. Eleven healthy volunteers (22 heels) acted as controls.
Results: The plantar fascia was thickened in symptomatic feet. The thickness of the plantar fascia in symptomatic feet was (3.0–7.0 mm; 4.9 ± 1.3) measured by ultrasound which was significantly thicker than in the control group (1.1–2.4 mm; 1.7 ± 0.06); P < 0.05. Other sonographic signs used for the diagnosis of plantar fasciitis in the study were compared to MRI findings. The diagnostic accuracy was 69.5% for abnormal focal echogenicity within the plantar fascia, 60.8% for edema around the plantar fascia, 78.2% for perifascial edema, 69.5% for rupture of the plantar fascia and the lowest diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound was in detection of associated calcaneal spur (56.5%). The findings were tabulated and discussed in relation to other literature.
Conclusion: It was concluded that the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound is comparable to that of MRI in the diagnosis of plantar fasciitis and it could be the straightforward initial imaging modality to confirm clinically suspected plantar fasciitis. MRI may be reserved for cases where a diagnosis of plantar fasciitis does not satisfactorily explain the clinical presentation and when complex pathology is suspected.
Invasive group beta-streptococcal arthritis is being increasingly diagnosed as suggested by recent data. We report a case of a middle-aged lady from Sri Lanka who developed septic arthritis of the right shoulder and the left sacroiliac joint as well as an iliopsoas collection caused by Streptococcus agalactiae shortly after labor at Hamad General Hospital in Doha, Qatar. We conclude that Streptococcus agalactiae septic arthritis is rare. It can present with invasive disease in adults. It usually targets older females and immuno compromised patients especially those with risk factors for bacteraemia. Therefore a high index of suspicion is needed. Shoulder and sacroiliac joint affection is not uncommon for unknown reasons. Utilizing imaging modalities such as ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging is helpful.
Background The aim of this study was to verify the findings of color-coded sonoelastography in Achilles tendon disorders against ultrasonographic and MR imaging findings, describing the elastographic patterns and correlating their diagnostic ability to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a gold standard.
Results Our study showed that sonoelastography appeared to be highly sensitive to ultrasonographically detected changes, with 100% sensitivity, 16.6% specificity, 73% positive predictive value, and 100% negative predictive value, making it a good negative test to exclude suspected tendinopathy in equivocal cases. MRI examination was used as a gold standard. Elastographic grades showed moderate agreement to those of MRI (κ = 0.44, p < 0.001), while elastography had overall sensitivity of 87.5%, 100% specificity, and 90% accuracy in differentiating normal and pathological tendons.
Conclusion We concluded that sonoelastography is a sensitive method in the diagnosis of Achilles tendon pathologies detected by ultrasound examination and it can be well correlated to MRI with high specificity for pathological tendons.
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