Top-Ten Tips for Ultrasound-Guided Joint Injection

Abstract

Ultrasound-guided joint injection is more accurate than palpation-guided injection and performed more frequently. Joint injection is helpful for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes as well as for injecting contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography arthrography. Ultrasound-guided joint injection helps ensure intra-articular injection and minimizes injury to para-articular soft tissues.

A comparison of ultrasound-guided rotator interval and posterior glenohumeral injection techniques for MR shoulder arthrography

“…The ideal intra-articular injection technique should be efficient, easy to learn, safe, and cause minimal patient discomfort [16]. The two most commonly performed ultrasound-guided shoulder injections are the rotator interval and posterior approaches.…”

“…The posterior glenohumeral approach can be from medial to lateral [16][17][18] placing the needle tip on the humeral head or from lateral to medial placing the needle tip deep the posterior labrum [10,11]. These two approaches have not been directly compared.…”

“…As ultrasound guidance of shoulder joint injection is becoming more popular and is recommended as a preferable means of shoulder joint injection to fluoroscopy [14][15][16], ascertaining which particular approach is best in terms of patient comfort, efficiency and technical difficulty is clinically relevant, particularly for those considering using an ultrasound approach or modifying their current ultrasound approach. Only two comparative studies have been performed to date [10,11].…”