الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The SpA belongs to the most common rheumatic diseases. Peripheral enthesitis is observed in all SpA subtypes. It is usually revealed by clinical findings which lack specificity, such as localized pain, tenderness, and swelling. In recent years, ultrasonography has proved to be a highly sensitive and noninvasive tool, especially in the assessment of tendon and joint involvement. Several studies have described the use of B-mode US to identify the features of lower limb enthesitis in SpA, revealing a high frequency of abnormal findings in asymptomatic entheses. Also, power
Doppler technology has allowed the visualization of abnormal vascularization and hyperemia of soft tissues in inflammatory articular
diseases. In this study, our main target is assessment of peripheral enthesopathy in early spondyloarthritis patients by musculoskeletal ultrasonography as it is now clear that early diagnosis can help counsel these patients and maintain spinal mobility by physiotherapy and achieve symptomatic control by the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or recently anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF). Fifty patients were included in this study. They were divided into two groups which include 30 spondyloarthritis patients and 20 rheumatoid arthritis patients as controls (disease duration less than two years). The spondyloarthritis patients are then divided into 19 axial and 11 peripheral SpA patients according to new ASAS criteria for axial and peripheral SpA.