Mary M. Chiavaras

Lateral epicondylitis and beyond: imaging of lateral elbow pain with clinical-radiologic correlation

The diagnosis of lateral epicondylitis is often straightforward and can be made on the basis of clinical findings. However, radiological assessment is valuable where the clinical picture is less clear or where symptoms are refractory to treatment. Demographics, aspects of clinical history, or certain physical signs may suggest an alternate diagnosis. Knowledge of the typical clinical presentation and imaging findings of lateral epicondylitis, in addition to other potential causes of lateral elbow pain, is necessary. These include entrapment of the posterior interosseous and lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerves, posterolateral rotatory instability, posterolateral plica syndrome, Panner’s disease, osteochondritis dissecans of the capitellum, radiocapitellar overload syndrome, occult fractures and chondral-osseous impaction injuries, and radiocapitellar arthritis. Knowledge of these potential masquerades of lateral epicondylitis and their characteristic clinical and imaging features is essential for accurate diagnosis. The goal of this review is to provide an approach to the imaging of lateral elbow pain, discussing the relevant anatomy, various causes, and discriminating factors, which will allow for an accurate diagnosis.

Ultrasound-Guided Tendon Fenestration

A potential treatment for chronic tendinosis or tendinopathy is percutaneous ultrasound-guided tendon fenestration, also termed dry needling or tenotomy. This procedure involves gently passing a needle through the abnormal tendon multiple times to change a chronic degenerative process into an acute condition that is more likely to heal. This article reviews the literature on tendon fenestration and describes the technical aspects of this procedure including postprocedural considerations. Although peer-reviewed literature on this topic is limited, studies to date have shown that ultrasound-guided tendon fenestration can improve patient symptoms. Several other percutaneous treatments for tendinopathy that include prolotherapy, autologous whole-blood injection, and autologous platelet-rich plasma injection are often performed in conjunction with fenestration. It is currently unknown if these other percutaneous procedures have any benefit over ultrasound-guided tendon fenestration alone.

Radiographic union score for hip substantially improves agreement between surgeons and radiologists

BackgroundDespite the prominence of hip fractures in orthopedic trauma, the assessment of fracture healing using radiographs remains subjective. The variability in the assessment of fracture healing has important implications for both clinical research and patient care. With little existing literature regarding reliable consensus on hip fracture healing, this study was conducted to determine inter-rater reliability between orthopedic surgeons and radiologists on healing assessments using sequential radiographs in patients with hip fractures. Secondary objectives included evaluating a checklist designed to assess hip fracture healing and determining whether agreement improved when reviewers were aware of the timing of the x-rays in relation to the patients’ surgery.MethodsA panel of six reviewers (three orthopedic surgeons and three radiologists) independently assessed fracture healing using sequential radiographs from 100 patients with femoral neck fractures and 100 patients with intertrochanteric fractures. During their independent review they also completed a previously developed radiographic checklist (Radiographic Union Score for Hip (RUSH)). Inter and intra-rater reliability scores were calculated. Data from the current study was compared to the findings from a previously conducted study where the same reviewers, unaware of the timing of the x-rays, completed the RUSH score.ResultsThe agreement between surgeons and radiologists for fracture healing was moderate for “general impression of fracture healing” in both femoral neck (ICC = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.42-0.71) and intertrochanteric fractures (0.50, 95% CI: 0.33-0.62). Using a standardized checklist (RUSH), agreement was almost perfect in both femoral neck (ICC = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.82-0.87) and intertrochanteric fractures (0.88, 95% CI: 0.86-0.90). We also found a high degree of correlation between healing and the total RUSH score using a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis, there was an area under the curve of 0.993 for femoral neck cases and 0.989 for intertrochanteric cases. Agreement within the radiologist group and within the surgeon group did not significantly differ in our analyses. In all cases, radiographs in which the time from surgery was known resulted in higher agreement scores compared to those from the previous study in which reviewers were unaware of the time the radiograph was obtained.ConclusionsAgreement in hip fracture radiographic healing may be improved with the use of a standardized checklist and appears highly influenced by the timing of the radiograph. These findings should be considered when evaluating patient outcomes and in clinical studies involving patients with hip fractures. Future research initiatives are required to further evaluate the RUSH checklist.

Assessment of radiographic fracture healing in patients with operatively treated femoral neck fractures.

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine interrater and intrarater reliabilities on the healing assessment of femoral neck fractures between orthopedic surgeons and radiologists and to test the performance of a checklist system for hip fracture healing. Methods: We developed and used a scoring system [radiographic union score in hip fracture (RUSH) score] to determine the validity of quantifying fracture healing. A panel of 6 reviewers (3 orthopedic surgeons and 3 radiologists) independently assessed fracture healing with the RUSH system using radiographs of 150 femoral neck fractures at various stages in healing on 2 occasions 4 weeks apart. Results: Using subjective assessment, the interrater agreement between reviewer groups for fracture healing was fair [intraclass coefficient = 0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.01–0.41] with no significant difference in agreement within the orthopedic surgeon and radiologist groups (0.17 vs. 0.21). There was higher agreement for fracture healing using the RUSH score (intraclass coefficient = 0.53, 95%CI: 0.30–0.69) compared with physician impression of healing, highlighting the difficulties with plain radiographic assessments of healing. Intrarater agreement was consistently high across all measures for both surgeons and radiologists. The RUSH score and medial cortex bridging correlated well with overall assessment of healing (r = 0.868 and 0.643, respectively). Conclusions: The level of agreement between and within orthopedic surgeon and radiologist reviewers in the assessment of fracture healing is low, though intrarater agreement is high. The RUSH score shows promise as a tool to improve agreement on fracture healing. Studies evaluating reliability and accuracy of healing with clinical information and temporal evaluation are needed and may further improve agreement.

MR arthrographic assessment of suspected posteroinferior labral lesions using flexion, adduction, and internal rotation positioning of the arm: preliminary experience

ObjectiveImaging the shoulder in the position of flexion, adduction, and internal rotation (FADIR) may be useful in characterizing lesions of the posteroinferior labrum. The purpose of this preliminary study is to illustrate the diagnostic utility of FADIR positioning in the assessment and characterization of posteroinferior labral tears.Materials and MethodsIn the FADIR position, the arm is placed across the chest, with the hand on the contralateral shoulder and palm facing outwards. FADIR positioning was performed if there was a subtle or equivocal abnormality of the posteroinferior labrum on conventional MR arthrography sequences. A retrospective review of the charts of 9 people who were imaged using FADIR positioning in addition to routine MR arthrographic sequences of the shoulder was performed. The review included the indication for the study, documentation of presence of clinical posterior instability, and surgical correlation, where available.ResultsIn all 9 patients, FADIR positioning helped confirm, exclude, or better characterize a posteroinferior labral abnormality by increasing the diagnostic confidence.ConclusionFlexion, adduction, and internal rotation positioning appears to be a useful adjunct in evaluating patients with equivocal or subtle posteroinferior labral abnormalities on conventional MR arthrography sequences.

Pitfalls in wrist and hand ultrasound.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this article is to review a number of diagnostic pitfalls related to ultrasound evaluation of the hand and wrist. Such pitfalls relate to evaluation of ten-dons (extensor retinaculum, multiple tendon fascicles, tendon subluxation), inflammatory arthritis (incomplete evaluation, misinterpretation of erosions, failure to evaluate for enthesitis), carpal tunnel syndrome (inaccurate measurements, postoperative assessment), ulnar collateral ligament of the thumb (misinterpretation of the adductor aponeurosis and displaced tear), wrist ganglion cysts (incomplete evaluation and misdiagnosis), and muscle variants. CONCLUSION Although ultrasound has been shown to be an effective imaging method for assessment of many pathologic conditions of the wrist, knowledge of potential pitfalls is essential to avoid misdiagnosis and achieve high diagnostic accuracy.

Pectoralis major tears: Anatomy, classification, and diagnosis with ultrasound and MR imaging

Accurate characterization of pectoralis major tears is important to guide management. Imaging evaluation with ultrasound and MR imaging can be difficult given the complex regional anatomy. In addition, recent literature has redefined the anatomy of the distal pectoralis major. The purpose of this study is to review pectoralis major injuries taking into account new anatomic descriptions using ultrasound and MR imaging, including cadaveric dissection, surgically produced pectoralis tears, and clinical pectoralis tendon tear with surgical correlation.

Radial collateral ligament of the elbow: sonographic characterization with cadaveric dissection correlation and magnetic resonance arthrography.

An abnormality of the radial collateral ligament (RCL) in the setting of lateral epicondylitis can indicate a poor clinical outcome; therefore, accurate assessment is important. The purpose of this study was to characterize the proximal RCL attachment, or footprint, as seen on sonography using cadaveric dissection correlation and magnetic resonance arthrography.

Diagnosing Femoroacetabular Impingement From Plain Radiographs Do Radiologists and Orthopaedic Surgeons Differ

Background: A diagnosis of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) requires careful history and physical examination, as well as an accurate and reliable radiologic evaluation using plain radiographs as a screening modality. Radiographic markers in the diagnosis of FAI are numerous and not fully validated. In particular, reliability in their assessment across health care providers is unclear. Purpose: To determine inter- and intraobserver reliability between orthopaedic surgeons and musculoskeletal radiologists. Study Design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Six physicians (3 orthopaedic surgeons, 3 musculoskeletal radiologists) independently evaluated a broad spectrum of FAI pathologies across 51 hip radiographs on 2 occasions separated by at least 4 weeks. Reviewers used 8 common criteria to diagnose FAI, including (1) pistol-grip deformity, (2) size of alpha angle, (3) femoral head-neck offset, (4) posterior wall sign abnormality, (5) ischial spine sign abnormality, (6) coxa profunda abnormality, (7) crossover sign abnormality, and (8) acetabular protrusion. Agreement was calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: When establishing an FAI diagnosis, there was poor interobserver reliability between the surgeons and radiologists (ICC batch 1 = 0.33; ICC batch 2 = 0.15). In contrast, there was higher interobserver reliability within each specialty, ranging from fair to good (surgeons: ICC batch 1 = 0.72; ICC batch 2 = 0.70 vs radiologists: ICC batch 1 = 0.59; ICC batch 2 = 0.74). Orthopaedic surgeons had the highest interobserver reliability when identifying pistol-grip deformities (ICC = 0.81) or abnormal alpha angles (ICC = 0.81). Similarly, radiologists had the highest agreement for detecting pistol-grip deformities (ICC = 0.75). Conclusion: These results suggest that surgeons and radiologists agree among themselves, but there is a need to improve the reliability of radiographic interpretations for FAI between the 2 specialties. The observed degree of low reliability may ultimately lead to missed, delayed, or inappropriate treatments for patients with symptomatic FAI.

Sonography of the Lateral Antebrachial Cutaneous Nerve With Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Anatomic Correlation

Abnormalities of the lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve (LABCN) are associated with antecubital elbow conditions, such as distal biceps brachii tendon tears and traumatic cephalic vein phlebotomy. These can lead to lateral forearm, elbow, and wrist symptoms that can mimic other disease processes. The purpose of this study was to characterize the sonographic appearance of the LABCN using cadaveric dissection and retrospective analysis of sonographic examinations of symptomatic patients with magnetic resonance imaging correlation.