Keywords:
Athletic injuries, Surgery, MR, Musculoskeletal system, Musculoskeletal joint
Authors:
A. G. F. Rose; Durban North/ZA
DOI:
10.26044/essr2019/P-0111
Background
Anterior Cruciate ligament injury is one of the commonest ligamentous injuries requiring surgery.
ACL reconstruction is the Gold Standard but new techniques are being developed and there is increasing renewed interest in primary repair on selected patients as well as reconstruction in the skeletally immature.
Although X-ray and CT are useful postsurgical baseline imaging tools,
MRI represents a complete postoperative imaging tool because of its ability to non-invasively identify and differentiate normal postoperative features,
assess tunnel placement and graft maturation and incorporation,
recognise graft failure and complications of surgery,
identify missed injuries and other indirect non-ACL problems like osteoarthritis,
meniscal tears and loose bodies as well as identify risk factors which could indicate increase risk of graft failure and contraletal ACL rupture all of which would impact on outcome and therefore treatment.