Ultrasound examination
EULAR-OMERACT, Color gain, effusion, GSUS
EFFUSION
US protocol was in accordance with the EULAR guidelines regarding the positioning of the patient and scanning planes [Color gain was set at the disappearance of color noise and the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) was set as low as possible to have maximum sensitivity resulting in a frequency of about 750 Hz. PDUS semi-quantitative scoring was based on the methodology suggested by Szkudlarek et al. and later grossly endorsed by EULAR-OMERACT [Presence of synovitis/joint effusion on GSUS was scored using a binary scoring method [