Keywords:
Musculoskeletal system, Musculoskeletal soft tissue, MR, Diagnostic procedure, Tissue characterisation
Authors:
L. Conti, G. Lanni, S. Battisti, A. Conchiglia, A. Barile, C. Masciocchi; L'Aquila/IT
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2011/C-0671
Methods and Materials
MRI was performed on a 1.5 Tesla scanner using a multichannel phased-array peripheral coil with the patient lying supine.
The imaging protocol for all examinations included a fast STIR sequence (TR/TE,
3500-6000,00/55; inversion time,
150 msec) in the coronal or axial plane,
an axial T1-weighted spin-echo sequence (TR/TE,
300–420/9–16),
and an axial T2-weighted fat-suppressed fast spin-echo (3,500-5000/57–100; echo-train length,
8) or STIR (3,500–5,500/33; inversion time,
150 msec) sequence.
In addition,
all MRI examinations included acquisition of axial T1-weighted fat- suppressed spin-echo images (300–420/9–16) after injection of 0.2 mmol of paramagnetic contrast agent (Gd-DOTA) per kilogram of body weight.
We retrospectively reviewed and analyzed Magnetic Resonance (MR) exams of 12 consecutive patients (mean age 27.5).
Eight out of 12 patients (67%) had an associated pelvic and low-back pain,
while 4 out of 12 patients (33%) had a gravative unilateral inferior limb pain.
One patient (8%) had a nonspecific flu syndrome,
3 patients (25%) had flu syndrome 3 months before the onset of pain,
1 patient (8%) had a spondylodiscitis,
while in 7 patients (58%) there was no evidence of pathological anamnestic data; none of them had a previous history of trauma.
Two patients (16%) had a biopsy that showed a diffuse macrophagic infiltrate.
All patients underwent corticosteroid therapy and MRI follow-up.