Spondyloarthritis & psoriatic arthritis
Ultrasound assessment of vertebral ligaments: development and validation of a landmark-based scanning protocol with potential applicability in spondyloarthritis
Authors' conclusion
The proposed standardised US approach allows reliable assessment of LCTL, SSL and ILL.
Study context
- Population
- Cadaveric specimens, healthy controls and patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA); Ultrasound (US) of LCTL, SSL and iliolumbar (ILL) of the thoracolumbar spine120 ligaments assessed in healthy controls (HC)
- Participants
- 20 vs 3
- Comparison
- HC vs SpA
- HCn = 20
- SpAn = 3
- Outcome
- Ligament visualisation score (0, not visualised; 1, incompletely visualised; 2, perfectly visualised), feasibility and inter-/intra-rater reliability
Methodological detailscadaveric and reliability study, standardised landmark-based US technique, cadaveric specimen validation with dissection, inter-rater and intra-rater reliability, four operators with different expertise, two rounds
- Cadaveric and reliability study
- Standardised landmark-based US technique
- Cadaveric specimen validation with dissection
- Inter-rater and intra-rater reliability
- Four operators with different expertise
- Two rounds
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Visualisation score 1–2 in HC
Score 1–2, LCTL
100%
Score 1–2, SSL
99.1%
Score 1–2, ILL
85.9%
Score 2 (perfectly visualised), of 960 assessments
69.6%
Further findings
Mean examination time, between rounds
- Mean examination time, round 1
- 12'17″
- Mean examination time, round 2
- 10'56″
- No significant differences between operators
Applicability in SpA
- US detected both inflammatory and structural lesions in the three ligament entheses
Anatomical study
- Confirmed location and landmarks for all three ligaments
Original publication
Ultrasound assessment of vertebral ligaments: development and validation of a landmark-based scanning protocol with potential applicability in spondyloarthritis. RMD Open. Published 11 May 2026. doi:10.
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