Exploring the correlation between knee osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal ultrasound manifestations based on changes in traditional Chinese medical syndrome types

This study explores the correlation between knee osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal ultrasound manifestations based on changes in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome types. The study enrolled 104 patients with knee osteoarthritis admitted to the Gansu Provincial Hospital of TCM between January 2019 and January 2021. According to the principle of syndrome differentiation and treatment in TCM, the patients were divided into wind-cold-damp obstruction (n = 17), damp-heat accumulation (n = 22), qi-stagnation and blood stasis (n = 31), and liver and kidney deficiency (n = 34) types. The degrees of cartilage injury, synovial hyperplasia, synovial blood flow, and joint effusion in patients with different TCM syndrome types were compared using ultrasound. There were no significant differences in the degree of cartilage injury or synovial hyperplasia among the 4 TCM syndrome types (P > .05). The proportion of grade III blood flow signals in the liver and kidney deficiency group was lower than that in the damp-heat accumulation and wind-cold-damp obstruction groups, and the proportion of no blood flow and grade I blood flow signals were higher than those in the damp-heat accumulation and wind-cold-damp obstruction groups (P < .05). The proportion of non-joint effusion in the liver and kidney deficiency and wind-cold-damp obstruction groups was higher than that in the damp-heat accumulation and qi-stagnation and blood stasis groups (P < .05), and the proportion of grade I effusion in the damp-heat accumulation group was higher than that in the liver and kidney deficiency group (P < .05). Musculoskeletal ultrasound manifestations of knee osteoarthritis are related to TCM syndrome differentiation and classification and can provide a reference for TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment of knee osteoarthritis.