Purpose
Scapholunate ligament damage,
unless detected early,
can lead to chronic pain and the development of wrist instability; it is clinically the most frequently diagnosed form of carpal instability in clinical practice.
The aim of imaging methods is to provide the clinician with sufficient information about anatomical condition in the area,
because accurate diagnostics of the wrist structure lesions is crucial for treatment strategy.The aim of this study is to compare high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and direct artrography in detection of injuries to the scapholunate ligament.
Methods and Materials
In this prospective study a total of 47 patients,
25 men and 22 women,
who showed clinical signs of wrist instability (chronic or acute) underwent both direct MRI artrography and native high-resolution MRI using 47mm microscopic coil.
The average age of the patients was 30,7 years,
within the range of 21 - 43 years.
All of patients had pain in the wrist joint and during clinical examination and positive signs of instability were detected.
Patients were examinated with the MR device Philips Achieva with field...
Results
The findings between both methods - direct MR arthrography and non-contrast high resolution MR with a microscopy coil were evaluated in 44 cases.
Three examinations had to be excluded from the final evaluation due to motion artefacts.The results of both examinations coincided completely in 30 patients- in 8 findings without tear (grade I),
in 4 findings of ligament non-homogeneity (grade II),
in 9 findings of dorsal and/or volar tear (grade III) and 9 findings of complete tear of grade IV (Table 3).
In ten cases...
Conclusion
MR imaging due to its great resolution ability undoubtedly belongs to diagnostic algorithm of scapholunate ligament lesionsThe optimum variant is the examination using MR arthrography,
however for patients who doesn’t tolerate interventional procedures is high-resolution non-contrast MRI using microscopic coil great alternative without significant compromasing the quality.