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Abstract
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory disease with a wide and heterogeneous spectrum of pathologic conditions including intra-articular and peri-tendinous synovitis, enthesitis, psoriatic plaque and onycopathy (1). Since angiogenesis plays a key role in the pathogenesis of both synovial tissue and skin involvement, the term “psoriatic disease” has been introduced to underline that the disease has the potential to affect different tissues (2). Technological advances are constantly improving the diagnostic ability of the imaging modalities, especially of ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, opening new sceneries in the research field (3–11). The recent availability of an ultrasound probe with a B-mode frequency reaching 22 MHz allows for a detailed morpho-structural assessment together with a highly sensitive detection of blood flow in small vessels of superficial tissues. This is of particular interest, considering that most of the PsA targets are superficial tissues. The main aims of this presentation are to discuss the most relevant investigations aiming at assessing the role of histology and imaging in PsA, and to show the diagnostic ability of the last generation imaging modalities in the evaluation of the main PsA targets (i.e. joint, tendon, enthesis, skin, and nail).
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Disclosure of Interest None declared