Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be an effective alternative to minimally invasive MR arthrography for the diagnosis of hip labral tears, a common cause of hip pain, according to a study to be presented at the ARRS 2010 Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.
A hip labral tear involves the rim of tissue that surrounds and deepens the hip joint. Symptoms include hip pain or a "catching" sensation in your hip joint. Diagnosing hip labral tears often involves the use of MR arthrography, a minimally invasive procedure that involves the injection of contrast material into the hip.
The study, performed at the University of Wisconsin, compared the use of conventional noninvasive MRI with MR arthrography in 30 patients who had undergone preoperative imaging with both techniques. All MRI and MR arthrogram studies for each patient were independently reviewed by three radiologists.
"Conventional hip MRI and MR arthrogram studies revealed no significant difference between the two imaging techniques in the detection of labral tears for any of the three readers in our study group," said Colin Strickland, MD, lead author of the study. "Minimally-invasive MR arthrography remains the preferred test for the evaluation of suspected hip labral tears. However our study suggests that conventional, noninvasive MRI may detect a large percentage of these tears," said Strickland. Further study is needed to determine if conventional MRI is an acceptable alternative to MR arthrography, especially in the evaluation of nonspecific hip pain.
This study will be presented on Friday, May 7 at 10:40 a.m. Pacific Time. For a copy of the abstract or to schedule an interview with Dr. Strickland, please contact Heather Curry via E-MAIL at hcurry@acr-arrs.org.
About ARRS
The American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) was founded in 1900 and is the oldest radiology society in the United States. Its monthly journal, the American Journal of Roentgenology, began publication in 1906. Radiologists from all over the world attend the ARRS annual meeting to participate in instructional courses, scientific paper presentations and scientific and commercial exhibits related to the field of radiology. The Society is named after the first Nobel Laureate in Physics, Wilhelm Röentgen, who discovered the x-ray in 1895.