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The effect of foot position on Power Doppler Ultrasound grading of Achilles enthesitis

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether foot position could modify power Doppler grading in evaluation of the Achilles enthesis. Eighteen patients with clinical Achilles enthesitis were studied with power Doppler ultrasound (PDUS) in five different positions of the foot: active and passive dorsiflexion, neutral position, active and passive plantar flexion. The Doppler signal was graded in any position and compared with the others. The Doppler signal was higher with the foot in plantar flexion and decreased gradually, sometimes till to disappear, while increasing dorsiflexion. The Doppler signal was always less during the active keeping of the position of the joint, than during the passive. The PDUS examination of the Achilles enthesis should be performed also with the foot in passive plantar flexion, in order not to underestimate the degree of vascularization.

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Author’s contribution

All authors actively participated in conducting the study, contributed to the critical revisions to the manuscript and approved the article for publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento Medico-Chirurgico di Internistica Clinica e Sperimentale “F.Magrassi - A. Lanzara”, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Naples, NA, Italy

    Marcello Zappia, Giovanna Cuomo, Alfonso Reginelli & Luca Brunese

  2. Dipartimento di Medicina e di Scienze della Salute, Università degli Studi del Molise, Campobasso, Italy

    Maria Teresa Martino

  3. Rheumatology Unit, Department of Internal and Experimental Medicine, Via Pansini, 5, 80130, Naples, Italy

    Giovanna Cuomo

Authors
  1. Marcello Zappia
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  2. Giovanna Cuomo
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  3. Maria Teresa Martino
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  4. Alfonso Reginelli
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  5. Luca Brunese
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Correspondence to Giovanna Cuomo.

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Conflict of interest

Marcello Zappia, Giovanna Cuomo, Maria Teresa Martino, Alfonso Reginelli and Luca Brunese declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Zappia, M., Cuomo, G., Martino, M.T. et al. The effect of foot position on Power Doppler Ultrasound grading of Achilles enthesitis. Rheumatol Int 36, 871–874 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-016-3461-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-016-3461-z

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