Accuracy of Wrist MRI in Detecting Synovitis and Correlation with Arthroscopy

Conclusion The results demonstrate that conventional MRI without contrast has poor diagnostic accuracy in detecting wrist synovitis. Patients with ligament or chondral pathology or no clearly identifiable pathology on MRI whose clinical symptoms persist despite conservative treatment may have underlying dorsal and ulnar wrist synovitis that is not detected on MRI. Wrist arthroscopy facilitates the identification and treatment of synovitis in patients with concomitant wrist pathology and pain refractory to nonoperative treatment. This study suggests that MRI may have a low sensitivity for identifying wrist synovitis when compared with wrist arthroscopy during the evaluation of patients presenting with wrist pain. [...] Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc. 333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USAArticle in Thieme eJournals: Table of contents  |  Abstract  |  Full text
Source: Journal of Wrist Surgery - Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Tags: Scientific Article Source Type: research