ROLE OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING IN EVALUATION OF ACUTE NON-TRAUMATIC MUSCULOSKELETAL LESIONS

Document Type : Preliminary preprint short reports of original research

Authors

1 Department of Radiodiagnosis and Intervention, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University

2 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University

Abstract

Non-traumatic musculoskeletal lesions (NTMLs) maybe defined as pain of musculoskeletal origin occurring in absence of an external force or with injury related resulting from snowballing effects which may happen with repetitive movements associated with pain.
NTMLs disorders include: septic arthritis, osteomyelitis, stress & pathologic fractures, pyomyositis, rhabdomyolysis and compartment syndrome and are pathologies where initial diagnosis and intervention usually lead to an improved outcome.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used in the diagnosis because of its high sensitivity and specificity compared with other modalities. MRI plays an important role in the assessment of non-traumatic musculoskeletal lesions, given its exquisite contrast resolution, lack of ionizing radiation, andexcellent soft tissue contrast, multiplanar imaging capability and high degree of anatomic detail. It’s useful in detecting small foci of infection, necrosis and pathologic fluid collections, thus it’s superior to ultrasonography (US) and other cross-sectional imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT).
AIM OF THE WORK
The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of MRI in evaluation of acute non-traumatic musculoskeletal lesions.

Keywords