Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Musculoskeletal system, MR, Arthrography, Education and training
Authors:
G. Valeri1, G. Gismondi2, S. Mangino 2, A. Giovagnoni3; 1Fermo /IT, 2Fermo/IT, 3Ancona/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-1477
Background
Despite this widespread adoption and high diagnostic performance MRI ,
there are some areas (e.g.,
the shoulder,
the wrist,
the hip) in which evaluation of the joint space may be suboptimal,mainly due to anatomic conformation of the joint itself.
To overcome these limitations,
diluted Gadolinium-based contrast agents may be injected into the joint space to perform MR-arthrography (MRA),
with the two-fold purpose of distending the joint capsule and making intra-articular structures more visible.
In different settings,
MRA has been demonstrated to increase diagnostic performance of MRI.
MR-arthrography has gained optimal clinical results in the shoulder,
the knee,
the wrist and the ankle.
Recently MR-arthrography has been proposed also in the hip.
On the other hand,
MRA is regarded as a more invasive,
expensive,
time consuming imaging modality,
and requires higher operator experience compared to MRI and is therefore reserved for specific cases in selected centres.