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Sonographic measurement of transient synovitis in children: diagnostic value of joint effusion

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Abstract

In an evaluation of the diagnostic criteria for ultrasonography (US) of transient synovitis in children, in a prospective study, 34 consecutive children with a painful hip underwent US. The ultrasonographic joint space (UJS) and the effusion space were measured in both hips, and the width of the UJS thickness in the asymptomatic hips was compared with that in the symptomatic hips. US showed the presence of a joint effusion in 31 of the 34 children and a bilateral effusion in 3. The US diagnostic criterion for hip effusion consists of a UJS thickness difference >2.0 mm between asymptomatic and symptomatic hips. However, we found that 8 of the 31 UJS measurements compared between symptomatic hips and asymptomatic hips exhibited differences of <2 mm. We suggest that effusion space measurements are possible for accurate visualization of synovitis, rather than the recording of differences in UJS measurements between hips.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Katsuragi Hospital, 250-1 Makami Cho, Kishiwada, Osaka, 596-0842, Japan

    Koichi Yabunaka

  2. Department of Orthopedics, Katsuragi Hospital, 250-1 Makami Cho, Kishiwada, Osaka, 596-0842, Japan

    Mutsumi Ohue, Norio Morimoto, Naoshi Kitano, Kazuyuki Shinohara & Masaki Takamura

  3. Department of Radiology, Oishi Hospital, 1-7-15 Kawaguchi-cho, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, 720-0822, Japan

    Tatsuhiro Gotanda

  4. Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kanazawa University, 5-11-80 Kodatsuno, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, 920-0942, Japan

    Shigeru Sanada

Authors
  1. Koichi Yabunaka
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  2. Mutsumi Ohue
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  3. Norio Morimoto
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  4. Naoshi Kitano
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  5. Kazuyuki Shinohara
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  6. Masaki Takamura
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  7. Tatsuhiro Gotanda
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  8. Shigeru Sanada
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Correspondence to Koichi Yabunaka.

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Yabunaka, K., Ohue, M., Morimoto, N. et al. Sonographic measurement of transient synovitis in children: diagnostic value of joint effusion. Radiol Phys Technol 5, 15–19 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-011-0128-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12194-011-0128-z

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