Zhao C, Wang Q, Wang M, et al. - This study was undertaken to explore the feasibility of ultra-microangiography (UMA) in assessing disease activity and identify the clinical value of the UMA feature for evaluating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Researchers conducted power-Doppler ultrasound (PDUS) and UMA on small joints of RA patients. They further evaluated and compared semiquantitative scores of PDUS and UMA of the joints. They evaluated the relationships between the groups and clinical parameters. The study enrolled a total of 52 patients with RA, with 364 joints (MCP, PIP, MTP and wrist) scanned. The data demonstrate that UMA can help enhance the detection rate of micro-vascularization. It was shown that UMA feature of the penetrating vessels on the surface of eroded bones is likely to be correlated with severe disease activity.