Ultrasonographic Measurement of Cartilage Thickness in Patients With Leprosy
Ercan KARABACAK1, Levent TEKİN2, Algün POLAT EKİNCİ3, Ümüt GÜZELKÜÇÜK4, Güzin ÖZARMAĞAN3
1Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases Clinic, GATA Haydarpaşa Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey
2Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, GATA Haydarpaşa Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey
3Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases Clinic, İstanbul University, İstanbul Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, Turkey
4Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Turkish Armed Forces Rehabilitation Center, Ankara, Turkey
Keywords: Femoral cartilage, leprosy, ultrasonography
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate femoral cartilage thickness in leprosy patients by using ultrasound.
Patients and methods: Twenty-one patients previously diagnosed with leprosy (11 males and 10 females), and age, sex and body mass index matched 21 controls were enrolled. Control subjects with a history of any other systemic inflammatory disease and/or knee trauma were excluded. All femoral cartilage evaluations were performed by the same physician who was experienced in musculoskeletal ultrasonography using a linear array probe. Measurements for 42 knees of 21 leprosy patients, and 42 knees of 21 healthy subjects were analyzed.
Results: Although patients with leprosy had lower femoral cartilage values than those in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant.
Conclusion: We assume that the non-significantly decreased femoral cartilage thickness in patients with leprosy may be explained by the relative immobilization and biomechanical changes arising from complications.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.