this is a scan of the posterior elbow where the transducer is placed here just at the aspect of where the olecranon is and we can identify in this image the olecranon this area here these are the distal humerus and this as we scan through it we'll see the triceps insertion so this will represent the actual joint space and we can identify in a patient with a swollen elbow there's no fluid really coming out of the joint itself and we can basically exclude a joint diffusion but as we scan further around the elbow we're going to see this large hypoechoic structure just on the olecranon outside of the joint space suggestive of an olecranon bursitis you can see some debris and fibrotic tissue inside but you can clearly see it's on the outside aspect of the cortex of the bone and as we swing around it can be challenging to maintain probe contact with the bursa itself due to its unusual shape but we come around the aspect towards the forearm and we can see clearly this fluid collection is external to the joint itself confirming our diagnosis of olecranon bursitis
