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Ossifying enthesites present an undeniable diagnostic value in every chronic inflammatory rheumatism at an early stage, not only in adults but also in children. Bony scintigraphy discovers them in most localizations at a preradiological stage, as soon as they cause pain. The scanner examination enables to follow the anatomical evolution of the ossifications. It is perfectly suitable for the study of sacro-iliac and interapophyseal joints. Ossifying enthesites, the evolution of which spreads over several years, often depend on mechanical, professional or athletic constraints. Ossifying enthesitis is a common characteristics of "classic" spondylo-arthropathies which are all ossifying polyenthesites: ankylosing spondylarthritis, psoriasic rheumatism, rheumatism of enteropathies, Fiessinger-Leroy-Reiter syndrome and juvenile spondylo-arthropathies.

The authors have developed a technique of CT arthroscan which, by the use of a gas or opaque contrast medium, is able to demonstrate the synovial structures of the knee, the shoulder and the hip. Among the essential indications, they include the demonstration of neoplasia of the synovium and the evaluation of the pannus in rheumatoid arthritis. Their secondary indications include the demonstration of fluid effusions in the hip, the precise evaluation of hyperostotic lesions in the same joint, the detection of ossification phenomena in the capsule of the inter-apophyseal joints in ankylosing spondylitis and, in some cases, following negative or doubtful arthrography for the detection of synovial plica. They also recall the usefulness or the arthroscan in the diagnosis of lesions of the labrum glenoidale.