Ultrasound tissue characterization and function of Achilles tendon in psoriatic arthritis patients: a cross-sectional study.
Chiara Busso, Simone Parisi, Marta Andrighetti and 4 others
PMID 39869127WHAT IT FOUND
People with psoriatic arthritis and painful Achilles insertion had moderate-severe pain, reduced heel-rise endurance, strength, and fast walking.
Ultrasound showed structural changes on both sides, even when pain was one-sided.
Key findings
01Patients had moderate-severe pain and perceived disability, and every patient scored below 70% on the Achilles tendinopathy questionnaire.
02Conventional ultrasound showed greater insertional Achilles tendon thickness and more structural and blood-vessel changes on the more symptomatic side.
03Advanced ultrasound showed comparable tendon-structure impairment in both Achilles tendons of all patients.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 17 patients were recruited by convenience, so the sample was small and may not represent all psoriatic arthritis patients. Six of the 17 patients had no usable advanced ultrasound results because of artifacts or movement, so that part rests on 11 patients. The ultrasound operator knew which side was symptomatic, so side comparisons could be influenced by expectation. There was no healthy control group, so the paper cannot compare these patients with people without psoriatic arthritis. This was a single-session observational study, so it cannot show what caused the ultrasound changes or whether treatment helps. The ultrasound structure assessment did not include some abnormalities that could contribute to pain, such as bony overgrowth, enthesophytes, fissures, calcifications, or bursitis. Patients were already taking disease-modifying arthritis drugs and had not received rehabilitation aimed at tendon structure or neuromotor function, so medication status and lack of rehabilitation may shape the findings.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial conflicts of interest. The work was funded by the University of Turin, the Italian Ministry of University and Research, and the European Union Next Generation EU through the PRIN 2022 program.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that ultrasound-detected tendon changes cause the pain or that any treatment will help. This was an observational study with no control group, no treatment comparison, and no follow-up.