PRELIMINARY DATA ON THE ROLE OF CONTRAST ENHANCED ULTRASOUND (CEUS) IN EARLY DIAGNOSIS AND STAGING OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

This paper is concerning with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and the use of CEUS in the diagnosis and staging of the disease. 51 patiens were studed for this clinical syntoms, radiology and biomarkers. The contrast enhanced ultrasound allowes to estabilish an early diagnosis and staging of RA by monitoring the vascular progression of the synovial membrane. There are good prospectives for further confirmation of the methodology.