Introduction:

Spondyloarthropathies are diseases characterized by inflammation of the axial skeleton, peripheral joints and tendon inversions. Many of the alterations in asymptomatic patients with synovitis and subclinical enthesitis have been revealed by ultrasound, an adequate technique to evaluate this condition.

Objective:

To evaluate the ultrasound characteristics of knee joint damage in patients diagnosed with spondyloarthropathies and their relationship with clinical-analytical examination.

Methods:

An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in 53 patients with spondyloarthropathies; 26 women and 27 men; 106 knees were examined.

Results:

Patients with ankylosing spondylitis predominated; 73.6% of the patients studied. Out of the entire sample, 43.4% had inflammatory activity in the right knee and 37.7% was bilateral. 58.5% had joint effusion; 84% were transparent. 61.3% of the cases studied showed synovial thickening and 81.5% was avascular. In the vascularized membrane, the vasa recto predominated (12%). 23.6% of the sample had a popliteal cyst.

Conclusions:

High resolution ultrasound in knee spondyloarthropathy was a useful technique to detect thickening of the synovial membrane, effusion and increased vascularization. It was also shown that there was no relationship between acute phase reactants and inflammatory activity, as well as Doppler activity in knee spondyloarthropathies in this series.

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