Musculoskeletal Imaging of Small Joints

Musculoskeletal imaging, particularly of hands and fingers in rheumatoid arthritis, is the special interest of Dr. Claudia Weidekamm. “We are using contrast-enhanced US to determine the grade of synovial inflammation in RA. The quantification of synovitis is important because synovitis is a reliable marker for the early changes in RA.” Dr. Weidekamm’s group has developed a quanititative scoring system using Power Doppler US and compared it to dynamic contrast- enhanced Pulse-Inversion Harmonic Imaging (PIHI) and dynamic high-field MRI.
In addition to this area of endeavor, Dr. Weidekamm, under the direction of Dr. Siegfried Trattnig and Dr. Franz Kainberger, is evaluating arthrography of the shoulder using 3D sequences, as well as MRI of the knee using STIR and PD SPAIR.