[Computer-assisted radiologic quantification of hand and foot changes in rheumatoid arthritis]

Driven by the increasing implementation of electronical picture archiving and communications system (PACS) into every days practice a fully operative Java application software was developed to support the efficacy of the scoring process in rheumatoid arthritis. This software, namely the "Rheuma-Coach" offers the possibility to use the Larsen- or the Ratingen-Score. We measured time savings of approximately 20% per case if this computer assistance was used. The lack of a standard for the positioning of limbs was confirmed.