Application of a novel Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Sum Score (MUSS) in the follow-up of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Key Points

• The aim is to evaluate a novel musculoskeletal ultrasound score's effectiveness in monitoring disease activity in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
• Developed a novel musculoskeletal ultrasound sum score (MUSS) for disease monitoring.
• Performed longitudinal assessments of patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
• Compared MUSS results with clinical measures of disease activity.
• MUSS showed strong correlations with established clinical measures of disease activity.
• MUSS demonstrated excellent specificity for identifying active disease at a cut-off of ≥1.
• Further validation in independent prospective cohorts is needed.