BackgroundSubacromial disorders are considered to be one of the most common pathologies affecting the shoulder. Optimal therapy for shoulder pain (SP) in primary care is yet unknown, since clinical history and physical examination do not provide decisive evidence as to the patho-anatomical origin of the symptoms. Optimal decision strategies can be furthered by applying ultrasound imaging (US), an accurate method in diagnosing SP, demonstrating a clear relationship between diagnosis and available therapies. Yet, the clinical cost-effectiveness of applying US in the management of SP in primary care has not been studied. The aim of this paper is to describe the design and methods of a trial assessing the cost-effectiveness of ultrasound imaging as a diagnostic triage tool to improve management of primary care patients with non-chronic shoulder pain.Methods/DesignThis randomised controlled trial (RCT) will involve 226 adult patients with suspected subacromial disorders recruited by general practitioners. During a Qualification period of two weeks, patients receive care as usual as advised by the Dutch College of General Practitioners, and patients are referred for US. Patients with insufficient improvement qualify for the RCT. These patients are then randomly assigned to the intervention or the control group. The therapies used in both groups are the same (corticosteroid injections, referral to a physiotherapist or orthopedic surgeon) except that therapies used in the intervention group will be tailored based on the US results. Ultrasound diagnosed disorders include tendinopathy, calcific tendinitis, partial and full thickness tears, and subacromial bursitis. The primary outcome is patient-perceived recovery at 52 weeks, using the Global Perceived Effect questionnaire. Secondary outcomes are disease specific and generic quality of life, cost-effectiveness, and the adherence to the initial applied treatment. Outcome measures will be assessed at baseline, 13, 26, 39 and 52 weeks after inclusion. An economic evaluation will be performed from both a health care and societal perspective with a time horizon of 52 weeks.DiscussionThe results of this trial will give unique evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of US as a diagnostic triage tool in the management of SP in primary care.
Among our selected cohort of patients with early IBP, the prevalence of SpA according to three different criteria sets is high. The ESSG criteria were the most sensitive, followed by the Amor criteria and the Berlin criteria. The modified New York criteria for ankylosing spondylitis appeared to be the most specific. In this cohort, the contribution of MRI and human leucocyte antigen B27 to purely clinical criteria in making a diagnosis of axial SpA was limited.
More than one-third of PET/CT-positive sarcoidosis patients had osseous abnormalities on PET/CT. The majority of these lesions (94%) could not be detected on low-dose CT. No single localization of preference was found. These preliminary results stress the value of PET/CT imaging in the assessment of bone/bone marrow involvement in sarcoidosis patients.
BackgroundTo study the reliability and validity of high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HR-pQCT) with microCT (μCT) as gold standard in the visual detection of cortical breaks in metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joints.MethodsTen cadaveric fingers (10 MCP and 9 PIP joints) were imaged by HR-pQCT and μCT and visually analyzed by two independent readers. Intra- and interreader reliability were evaluated for the presence (yes/no, kappa statistics) and the total number (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC) of cortical breaks. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value (PPV respectively NPV) of HR-pQCT in detecting cortical breaks were calculated.ResultsWith HR-pQCT, mean 149 cortical breaks were identified and with μCT mean 129 (p < 0.05). Intrareader reliability for the presence of a cortical break per quadrant was 0.52 (95 % CI 0.48–0.56) and 0.71 (95 % CI 0.67–0.75) for HR-pQCT and μCT, respectively, and for the total number of cortical breaks 0.61 (95 % CI 0.49–0.70) and 0.75 (95 % CI 0.68–0.82). Interreader reliability for the presence of a cortical break per quadrant was 0.37 (95 % CI 0.33–0.41) and 0.45 (95 % CI 0.41–0.49) for HR-pQCT and μCT, respectively, and for the number of cortical breaks 0.55 (95 % CI 0.43–0.65) and 0.54 (95 % CI 0.35–0.67). Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of HR-pQCT were 81.6, 64.0, 81.6, and 64 % respectively.ConclusionCortical breaks were commonly visualized in MCP and PIP joints with HR-pQCT and μCT. Reliability of both HR-pQCT and μCT was fair to moderate. HR-pQCT was highly sensitive to detect cortical breaks with μCT as gold standard.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12891-016-1148-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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