Abstract
BackgroundThumb-base osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of pain and disability This study aimed to investigate the associations of musculoskeletal ultrasound OA pathologies with the extent of pain, function, radiographic scores, and muscle strength in symptomatic thumb-base osteoarthritis.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study of an ongoing clinical trial with eligibility criteria including thumb-base pain on Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) ≥40 (0 to 100 mm), Functional Index for Hand OA (FIHOA) ≥ 6 (0 to 30) and Kellgren Lawrence (KL) grade ≥ 2. The most symptomatic side was scanned to measure synovitis and osteophyte severity using a 0–3 semi-quantitative score, power Doppler and erosion in binary score. A linear regression model was used for associations of ultrasound findings with VAS pain, FIHOA and hand grip and pinch strength tests after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, disease duration and KL grade as appropriate. For correlation of ultrasound features with KL grade, OARSI ((Osteoarthritis Research Society International) osteophyte and JSN scores, Eaton grades, Spearman coefficients were calculated, and a significant test defined as a p-value less than 0.05.ResultsThe study included 93 participants (mean age of 67.04 years, 78.5% females). Presence of power Doppler has a significant association with VAS pain [adjusted β coefficient = 11.29, P = 0.02] while other ultrasound pathologies revealed no significant associations with all clinical outcomes.In comparison to radiograph, ultrasonographic osteophyte score was significantly associated with KL grade [rs = 0.44 (P < 0.001)], OARSI osteophyte grade [rs = 0.35 (P = 0.001)], OARSI JSN grade [rs = 0.43 (P < 0.001)] and Eaton grade [rs = 0.30 (P < 0.01)]. Ultrasonographic erosion was significantly related with radiographic erosion [rs = − 0.49 (P = 0.001)].ConclusionFrom a clinical perspective the significant relationship of power Doppler with pain severity in thumb base OA suggests this might be a useful tool in understanding pain aetiology. It is important to recognise that power Doppler activity was only detected in 14% of the study so this might be an important subgroup of persons to monitor more closely.Trial registrationRegistered at Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR), http://www.anzctr.org.au/, ACTRN12616000353493.
Highlights
Thumb-base osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of pain and disability This study aimed to investigate the associations of musculoskeletal ultrasound OA pathologies with the extent of pain, function, radiographic scores, and muscle strength in symptomatic thumb-base osteoarthritis
The current study revealed the frequent finding of some ultrasound pathologies, the significant association of the presence of power Doppler with the severity of pain, and significant correlations of ultrasound-detected osteophyte with radiographic scores in thumb-base OA
This study showed that synovitis, when present, were mostly scored toward the lower end of the semi-quantitative scale as these grading scores were adopted from the scoring system created originally for rheumatoid arthritis [23], which is quantitatively different in inflammatory severity from OA [28]
Summary
Thumb-base osteoarthritis (OA) is a common cause of pain and disability This study aimed to investigate the associations of musculoskeletal ultrasound OA pathologies with the extent of pain, function, radiographic scores, and muscle strength in symptomatic thumb-base osteoarthritis. Thumb-base osteoarthritis (OA) denotes structural alteration of the thumb carpometacarpal joint with a female predominance up to 6:1 [1]. It is a common cause of pain and disability, restricting the ability to perform simple tasks of daily living, and is characterized by hand weakness and radiographic abnormalities [2]. The use of ultrasound would permit the study of OA phenotypes with respect to inflammatory and structural changes that cannot be visualized with a plain radiograph [7]
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