Learning objectives
• To describe and illustrate the anatomy and the most frequent pathological findings in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the knee.
Background
Introduction
The knee is one of the most complex joints of the body characterized by the presence of ligamentous and meniscal structures that play an important role in the stability and mobility of the inferior member.
The MRI is currently the modality of choice for detecting knee injuries and is the most commonly requested musculoskeletal examination.
It represents a non-invasive and radiation-free technique.
The important advances of this techniques allow a very good spatial resolution and its excellent contrast resolution allows a very good analysis...
Findings and procedure details
The main non-osseous pathologies of the knee are explained by showing their correlation with the findings of the images.
Protocol MRI
The knee to explore is placed in the middle of the antenna in the extended position to optimize the study of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
The typical parameters include a field of view of 14 -16cm,
and a section thickness of 3–4mm.
The sequences includes in our standard protocol are:
Saggital: T1 TSE (GE® / Phillips®)
Saggital: T1 SPIR (Phillips®) o FSE PD...
Conclusion
Magnetic resonance plays a crucial role in the evaluation of knee pathology and a detailed knowledge of this area allows us to make a correct diagnosis that helps in therapeutic decision making.
Familiarity with specific injury patterns and their correlation with the mechanism of trauma is important.
As radiologists,
we should be familiar with the wide range of normal anatomical variants to avoid reporting errors and provide accurate diagnosis.
References
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P.
Musa Aguiar,
J.
Goncalves2,
A.
C.
Valim1,
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B.
M.
D.
Ferreira1,
et al.
Do Not Fall on Your Knees - Recognizing Common and Uncommon Pitfalls that May Simulate Meniscal Tears.
ECR 2016.
Poster No.: C-1146.
2.
Erick M.
Remer,
Steven W.
Fitzgerald,
Harold Friedman,
Lee F.
Rogers,
et al.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: MR Imaging Diagnosis and Patterns of Injury. RadloGraphics 1992; 12:901-915.
3.
Andrew H.
Sonin,
Steven W.
Fitzgerald,
Frederick L.
Hoff,
Harold Friedman,
et al.
MR Imaging of the Posterior...