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Stress Fracture MRI

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Stress Fracture MRI

  • See Also
  1. Stress Fracture
  2. Stress Fracture XRay
  3. Stress Fracture CT
  4. Stress Fracture Bone Scan
  • Indication
  1. Suspected Stress Fracture despite negative serial XRay
  2. New gold standard for Stress Fracture imaging (supplanting bone scan)
  • Epidemiology
  • Efficacy
  1. Test Sensitivity: High up to 100% in some studies (at least as good as bone scan)
  2. Test Specificity: High (better than bone scan)
  3. Shin (1996) Am J Sports Med 24(2): 168-76 [PubMed]
  • Advantages
  1. Highest efficacy of any imaging modality
  2. Identifies marrow edema (stress reaction) and subtle Fracture lines
  3. Evaluates regional soft tissue
  4. Best detail for differentiating Stress Fractures from other causes
  5. No radiation exposure
  • Disadvantages
  1. Higher cost than other Stress Fracture imaging
  • References
  1. Ishibashi (2002) Clin J Sports Med 12(2): 79-84 [PubMed]