Impact factors of cartilage thickness measurement stability of metacarpophalangeal joints using high-frequency ultrasound / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the impact factors of stability of high-frequency ultrasound in measurement of cartilage thickness (CTh) of the second metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP2). Methods Under the conditions of different operator, time, instrument, parameters (frequency and gain) and whether including the bright line (BL) above cartilage or not, CTh of the right MCP2 in 120 healthy volunteers were measured with high-frequency ultrasound. Then statistical analysis was performed. Results CTh of the right MCP2 was (0.50±0.09)mm including BL and (0.38±0.09)mm excluding BL, respectively (t=-18.528, P0.05). Under the same operator and parameters, there were statistical differences between the measurement results of different instrument, whether including BL or not (both P<0.05). Under the same operator and instrument, there were statistical differences between the measurement results of excluding BL with variable gain and stable frequency (P<0.05). Whether including BL or not, there were correlations between the measurement results of different operator, time, instrument and parameters (all P<0.01). The measurement results including BL showed that the correlation was slight between different instrument (r=0.619) but obvious between different gain (r=0.820), respectively. Conclusion: High-frequency ultrasound measurement results of the right MCP2 CTh including BL are more stable than those excluding BL. Instrument has great influence on measurement results, while gain has little effect for measurement.