Affiliation:
1. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology University of Bonn Bonn Germany
2. Institute for Experimental Haematology and Transfusion Medicine University of Bonn Bonn Germany
3. Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery University of Bonn Bonn Germany
Abstract
AbstractIntroduction/aimTo evaluate whether patients with haemophilia (PwH) can be enabled to perform ultrasonography (US) of their knees without supervision according to the Haemophilia Early Arthropathy Detection with Ultrasound (HEAD‐US) protocol and whether they would be able to recognize pathologies.MethodsFive PwH (mean age 29.6 years, range 20–48 years) were taught the use of a portable US device and the HEAD‐US protocol. Subsequently, the patients performed US unsupervised at home three times a week for a total of 6 weeks with a reteaching after 2 weeks. All images were checked for mapping of the landmarks defined in the HEAD‐US protocol by a radiologist. In a final test after the completion of the self‐sonography period, participants were asked to identify scanning plane and potential pathology from US images of other PwH.ResultsOn the images of the self‐performed scans, 82.7% of the possible anatomic landmarks could be identified and 67.5% of the requested images were unobjectionable, depicting 100% of the required landmarks. There was a highly significant improvement in image quality following reteaching after 2 weeks (74.80 ± 36.88% vs. 88.31 ± 19.87%, p < .001). In the final test, the participants identified the right scanning plane in 85.0% and they correctly identified pathology in 90.0% of images.ConclusionAppropriately trained PwH can perform the HEAD‐US protocol of their knee with high quality and are capable to identify pathologic findings on these standardized images. Asynchronous tele‐sonography could enable early therapy adjustment and thereby possibly reduce costs.