Abstract:Objective To investigate the early application of high-frequency ultrasound in the screening for arthropathy in the patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia. Methods Totally 164 patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia and 100 healthy controls were selected. The bilateral first metatarsophalangeal joint, ankle joint and knee joint were examined by high-frequency ultrasonography. The positive rate and distribution of joint lesions and ultrasonographic manifestations were observed. The patients in the three groups were followed up for two years to observe the incidence of acute gouty arthritis. Results Totally 93 joints (9.451%) were found to have lesions under high-frequency ultrasound in the patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia, including 66 lesions in the first metatarsophalangeal joint, 17 lesions in the ankle joint, and 10 lesions in the knee joint. The incidence of arthropathy in the patients was higher than that in the healthy controls, with statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). During the follow-up of two years, the incidence of acute gouty arthritis had statistical difference between the groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions These findings may support high-frequency ultrasound is useful to find earlystage arthropathy in patients with asymptomatic hyperuricemia, and is to help for early intervention treatment of the patients and to avoid joint damage due to hyperuricemia.