Today's News

Saturday, February 15, 1997

MRI not warranted for diagnosing wrist pathology

Based on a study using 34 fresh frozen cadaver wrists, researchers have concluded that the routine use of wrist magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cannot be advocated for diagnosing wrist ligament and triangular fibrocartilage (TFC) articular disk tears.

The wrists underwent MRI of the scapholunate ligament (SLL), lunotriquetral (LTL) and TFC using an extremity surface coil or dedicated wrist coil. MRI images were compared to wrist arthroscopy and/or wrist arthrotomy.

"Overall agreement between MRI interpretations and the status of the SLL, LTL and TFC were 41 percent, 41 percent and 40 percent, respectively, said Donald H. Lee, MD, division of orthopaedic surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham. He presented the results of the study Friday in scientific paper 337.

After the MRIs, each wrist underwent arthroscopic examination by two orthopaedic surgeons. Each MRI was reviewed by two radiologists and two orthopaedists. "The ability of our observers to detect these types of intra-articular pathology ranged from 40 to 80 percent," Dr. Lee said. The study notes that, "the use of a dedicated wrist surface coil improves the detection of wrist pathology, but is still somewhat limited."

Co-author of the study is John H. Walker, MD, Huntsville, Ala.