Ravinder Kumar
BACKGROUND Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been one of the most spectacular advances in medicine and has practically revolutionized the diagnosis of hip pathologies. This acceptance was initially due to its high sensitivity and specificity in detection of avascular necrosis of the femoral head. Since then however, MR imaging has also proved efficacious in the evaluation of primary musculoskeletal tumours, arthropathies, trauma, marrow replacement processes and osteomyelitis. The objective of the study is to study usefulness of MRI in patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of hip pathologies. MATERIALS AND METHODS It was a cross-sectional study carried out in a tertiary care institute from July 2015 to November 2017. A total of 80 cases with hip pathology attending Orthopaedics OPD participated in the study. There were bilateral hip pathologies in 27 patients, so a total of 107 pathological hips were studied. All the participants were subjected to MRI scan. RESULTS In present study, painful hip was the most common presenting symptom in 95% followed by restricted movement - 89% and gait abnormality-79%. Avascular necrosis (AVN) femoral head was the most common pathology detected comprising 33 of the 80 cases (66%). The next most common abnormality detected was infective arthritis (25%). Bone tumours together comprise 11% of patients. Three patients of sacroiliitis were included in the study because they presented with hip pain. CONCLUSION MRI showed exquisite sensitivity in detecting bone marrow oedema, cartilage, labrum, synovium, joint effusion, necrosis as well as extension of the tumours. With MRI, one can stage the hip pathology to prognosticate and influence therapeutic decisions.
