Purpose: To determine the efficacy of ultrasonography (US) for the detection of intraarticular bodies.
Materials and methods: US was performed in 280 patients with symptoms in various appendicular joints by using 5.0-, 7.5-, or 10.0-MHz transducers. Three patients also underwent US with intraarticular saline infusion. US findings were confirmed at surgery in 61 patients.
Results: In the 61 patients with surgical correlation, sonograms were positive in 39 and did not show intraarticular bodies in 22. Surgical results confirmed 37 of the positive and all of the negative sonograms. Sensitivity and specificity of US were 100% and 95%, respectively.
Conclusion: US is an accurate method for identification of intraarticular bodies.