Musculoskeletal ultrasonography for psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis patients: a systematic literature review.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the role of musculoskeletal US in patients suffering from PsA or psoriasis (Pso) in terms of prevalence, diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and treatment.

METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted through medical databases (MEDLINE via PubMed, Embase) and the grey literature up to September 2015 to inform a new study of the Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Study Group of the Italian Society for Rheumatology. All articles reporting data on musculoskeletal US in PsA or Pso were included and extracted according to the underlying clinical question.

RESULTS: A total of 86 publications were included. The prevalence of US abnormalities showed a wide range for each examined feature (e.g. 37-95% for entheses thickness of the lower limbs). The performance of US for diagnosis of disease or elementary lesions was variable across studies, but no study evaluated the overall performance of US in addition to clinical findings for diagnosing PsA. Considering US in defining PsA and Pso prognosis, several works focused on US of entheses of lower limbs in Pso, while for the monitoring of PsA activity five different scoring systems were identified. Last, the results of the role of US in guiding intra-articular interventions were controversial for the clinical outcomes, but in favour of US for accuracy.

CONCLUSION: despite the recognized importance of US in the management of PsA and Pso, this review clearly demonstrated the need of pivotal research in order to optimize the use of US in the diagnosis and monitoring of psoriatic disease.