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  • Title: Ankle disease in juvenile idiopathic arthritis: ultrasound findings in clinically swollen ankles.
    Author: Rooney ME, McAllister C, Burns JF.
    Journal: J Rheumatol; 2009 Aug; 36(8):1725-9. PubMed ID: 19411390.
    Abstract:
    OBJECTIVE: The ankle joint is frequently involved in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), but it is unclear whether this is predominantly due to synovitis, tenosynovitis, or both. We performed clinic-based ultrasound examination to assess the prevalence of synovitis and tenosynovitis in children with JIA felt clinically to have active inflammatory disease of the ankle. METHODS: Thirty-four patients with 49 clinically swollen ankles were studied (19 polyarticular JIA, 13 oligoarticular JIA, 1 systemic JIA, 1 psoriatic JIA). All cases had at least one clinically swollen ankle joint. The children were assessed clinically and had ultrasound examination during routine clinic appointments. RESULTS: We found 71% of ankles had tenosynovitis and 39% had tenosynovitis alone. Only 29% of swollen ankles had a tibiotalar effusion alone. We found 33% had both tenosynovitis and a tibiotalar effusion. When results were analyzed by JIA subtype, we found 81% of oligoarticular JIA ankles had medial ankle tenosynovitis but only 19% had tibiotalar effusion alone. There was a significant difference between JIA subgroups for the frequency of occurrence of medial ankle tenosynovitis (p = 0.048) and lateral ankle tenosynovitis (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The tibiotalar joint was not involved in 39% of the swollen ankles; and tenosynovitis, sometimes in isolation, was the dominant finding. This has implications for therapeutic intervention and also for an improved classification of children with JIA, especially with ankle involvement.
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