POWER DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY IN TENOSYNOVITIS - SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PERITENDINOUS HYPOECHOIC RIM

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of power Doppler son ography to distinguish between hypoechoic fluid and synovium in patien ts with suspected tenosynovitis. Gray scale sonography and power Doppl er sonography were performed on 26 tendons in 24 patients with tenosyn ovitis and 30 tendons in five asymptomatic volunteers. Peritendinous b lood flow was graded on a scale of 0 to 3 and the percentage of the hy poechoic rim that contained blood flow was also noted. In the symptoma tic group, flow was demonstrated in more than 50% of the peritendinous hypoechoic rim in 17 of 26 tendons. A positive correlation was found between the power Doppler sonographic grade and the percentage of the rim that had flow. These results suggest that a significant proportion of the hypoechoic rim probably represents vascularized synovium rathe r than complex fluid.