Keywords:
Tissue characterisation, Comparative studies, Ultrasound, MR, Musculoskeletal soft tissue
Authors:
E. cannizzaro, F. Bruno, C. Gianneramo, S. Iafrate, F. Arrigoni, S. Mariani, L. Zugaro, A. Barile, C. Masciocchi; L'aquila/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-3189
Aims and objectives
Tendinopathy is a common tendon injury that can cause morbidity and disability [1].It is a mechanical,
biochemical,
degenerative and overuse disease. It is associated with degeneration and disorganization of the collagen structure with a reduction of elasticity and with an increase in mucoid,
proteoglycan and water content [2] .
An accurate and reliable assessment of tendon status is critical to provide early diagnosis and to implement conservative treatments ( such as PRP,
Needling,
etc).
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US) are the most commonly used diagnostic imaging modalities for assessment of tendon pathologies (Fig.
1,
Fig.2) [3].
MRI is an accurate and feasible diagnostic tool which provides qualitative and quantitative information about pathological tendon thanks to an excellent soft tissue contrast.
In addition to the standard sequences,
T2 mapping is more sensitive to identify biochemical changes (collagen fiber structure and water content) which affect the tendon earlier than the morphological ones (Fig.3) [2].
US is a quicker and lower cost tecnique than MRI and is widely available[4] with an high diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity[5].
Moreover,
ultrasound elastography ,
introduced in recent years,
is a non-invasive technique able to evaluate the mechanical properties of tissues ,
and potentially tendon quality,
and can improve the diagnostic capability of conventional US (Fig.4) [1] [3] [4][6][7].
Since collagen structure and content are linked to elasticity of tendon,
the aim of our study was to evaluate the correlation between qualitative T2 mapping sequences and ultrasound evaluation with elastosonography in the assessment of grading and localization of degenerative tendon disease.