GRAPPA 2011: proceedings from the ultrasound imaging module.

In a plenary session at the 2011 meeting of the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA) the use of sonography for evaluating enthesitis and dactylitis in psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) was reviewed, and initial proposals were presented to develop ultrasound joint indices to assess enthesitis and dactylitis in PsA. Sonography can depict ultrastructural morphopathological features of an enthesis and its adjoining tissue structures, as well as increased vascularity; candidate entheses were proposed for an initial sonographic PsA enthesitis index. Ultrasound also can readily demonstrate soft tissue changes, synovitis, erosions, and osteoproliferation in dactylitis, and these features were proposed for an initial sonographic dactylitis index. A perspective was also presented on a wider proposed index including the skin, nail, joint, and enthesis.