To determine the diagnostic value of ultrasound imaging in chronic gouty arthritis.
Ultrasound imaging of 32 patients with chronic gouty arthritis were compared with those of 36 patients with non-gouty joint diseases. A logistic model was obtained to establish the associations between ultrasound appereances and gouty arthritis. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to evaluate the performance of the logistic model.
A double contour sign of articular cartilage, a snowstorm appearance of the joint fluid, and a hyperecho around the periarticular tendon had diagnostic value for chronic gouty arthritis. According to the logistic regression analysis, the accuracy of predicting chronic gouty arthritis was 95.59% (65/ 68), and the area under curve of ROC was 3.987 +/- 0.011 (P < 0.05).
A double contour sign of articular cartilage, a snowstorm appearance of the joint fluid, and a hyperecho around the periarticular tendon have diagnostic value. The combination of these appearances can improve diagnosis of chronic gouty arthritis.