MISSION AND VISION

The subcommittee for ultrasound in musculoskeletal radiology has been constituted in 2004 with the following aims: to promote ultrasound practice among musculoskeletal radiologists in Europe; to standardize musculoskeletal ultrasound scanning technique; to issue guidelines on clinical indications of musculoskeletal ultrasound; to promote multicenter studies and to support ESSR in the coordination with the different national and international societies of musculoskeletal ultrasound.

CHAIRPERSON

Members

For a list of subcommittee members, please VISIT HERE

TECHNICAL GUIDELINES

We prepared technical guidelines for ultrasound examination of individual joints – including the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist, the hip, the knee and the ankle – with the aim to obtain a global standard for musculoskeletal ultrasound training among European musculoskeletal radiologists. Scroll down to the download area below. Musculoskeletal radiologists who perform ultrasound are expected to follow these guidelines with the recognition that variations from them will be required in some cases, depending on patient’s needs and available equipment. We believe these standards will improve education and practice among radiologists and appropriate use of ultrasound as a diagnostic modality of the musculoskeletal system. Such guidelines are not intended, however, to establish a legal standard of care.

The European Society of MusculoSkeletal Radiology is an educational, scientific Society concerned with advancement of the art and science of musculoskeletal radiology. To promote this mission, the ESSR has issued technical standards for ultrasound examination of joints, including the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist, the hip, the knee and the ankle.
These US guidelines were first published in 2010.

CLINICAL INDICATIONS

The next goal of this subcommittee is to issue ultrasound clinical guidelines in musculoskeletal radiology that would be representative of the viewpoint of the ESSR and, more generally speaking, of the whole community of musculoskeletal radiologists in Europe. We are now working on that. To obtain educational standards and reference values, these guidelines will be prepared comparing the results of ultrasound and MR imaging based on data from the imaging literature. In the absence of available data, statements would be obtained by consensus.

RESEARCH

The subcommittee supports a multi centric study together with the Research Committee. The goal of the study is to compare MRI and US in follow-up of STT as described in “Follow-up of recurrences of limb soft tissue sarcomas in patients with localized disease: performance of ultrasound“
Tagliafico A, Truini M, Spina B, Cambiaso P, Zaottini F, Bignotti B, Calabrese M, Derchi LE, Martinoli C.
Eur Radiol. 2015 Mar 21

PROCEDURE TO JOIN THE SUBCOMMITTEE

Colleagues interested are very welcome to join the Subcommittee directly emailing the chairperson and attaching a short curriculum vitae.