Table 3 Validity of ultrasonography-detected tendon and ligament pathology described in the literature, including definitions, scoring systems, comparator and results

First author (reference no)	Pathology imaged	Definition in manuscript	Scoring system used	Comparator	Results
Altinel42	Patella tendon	NS	4-Point scale	N/A	N/A
Falsetti23	Enthesitis	Y	4-Point scale	CR	Good agreement between ultrasonography and CR for enthesophytes and erosions
Falsetti23	Plantar fasciitis	Y	4-Point scale	CR
Falsetti21	Enthesitis	Y	Present/absent	Clinical examination	Ultrasonography detected more disease than clinical examination or CR
	Enthesophytes	N	Present/absent	CR
	Tenosynovitis/tendinosis	N	Present/absent
Kim48	Patella tendon	N	NS	Scintigraphy	No correlation
Kim48	Medial and lateral collateral ligaments	N	NS	Scintigraphy	No correlation
Lennox10	Diameter of quadriceps muscle	N	Measured in mm	N/A	N/A
Monteforte13	Thickness of patella and quadriceps tendons	N	Measured in mm	N/A	N/A
Naredo30	Tendon and ligament lesions	DE	NS	Clinical examination	No abnormalities found
				CR
				Symptoms
Reardon19	Quadriceps muscle thickness	N	NS	N/A	N/A
Su40	Posterior structure tears	N	Graded as fully continuous, partly continuous or fully discontinuous	N/A	N/A
Yoon32	Anserine tenobursitis	Thickness of PA	Measured in mm	Clinical examination	Ultrasonography detected pathology in only two of 26 with the clinical syndrome
		Bursitis >2 mm	Present or absent	Clinical examination
		Thickening of tendon	Measured in mm	CR
		Loss of normal fibrillations	Present or absent	CR

CR, conventional radiography; DE, described elsewhere; N, No; N/A, not applicable; NS, not stated; PA, pes anserinus; Y, Yes.