Validation of the Pediatric Arthritis Ultrasound Scoring System for the Elbow, Wrist, and Finger Joints in Children With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Authors' conclusion
There is moderate to high sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy of the PAUSS in detecting synovitis in elbow, wrist, and finger joints, as well as a strong correlation of the PAUSS severity scores with the ceMRI severity scores
Study context
- Population
- Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) evaluated for elbow, wrist or finger arthritis44 elbows, 55 wrists, 106 fingers on musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSUS)
- Participants
- 75 children
- Comparison
- Pediatric Arthritis Ultrasound Scoring System (PAUSS) vs clinical examination (CE), with contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (ceMRI) as reference standard
- Outcome
- Performance of the PAUSS as a measure of arthritis activity vs CE and ceMRI (ceMRI reference standard)
Methodological detailsceMRI as reference standard
- ceMRI as reference standard
Performance
As reported in the abstract
Detection of synovitis vs ceMRI
| Test or model | Sensitivity, all joints |
|---|---|
| PAUSS | 75% to 94% |
PAUSS
Sensitivity, all joints75% to 94%
- Addition of MSUS to CE markedly improved the sensitivity of CE
- 92% to 100%
Further findings
Correlation of PAUSS with ceMRI severity scores, each joint
- Strong correlation for each specific joint
- r = 0.65-0.84, P ≤ 0.005
Correlation of PAUSS with CE findings of arthritis
- B-mode PAUSS finger joints: moderate correlation
- PAUSS-elbow: strong correlation
Original publication
Validation of the Pediatric Arthritis Ultrasound Scoring System for the Elbow, Wrist, and Finger Joints in Children With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). Published 4 February 2026. doi:10.
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