The tibiotalar joint is the third most common location for osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) lesions, which poses the risk of premature osteoarthritis, and often associates with a history of prior ankle sprains and fractures. Unstable lesions require surgical intervention. A 4-stage radiographic classification system has been previously proposed, but this system has a 50% false negative rate when compared to arthroscopic assessment (reference standard). Recently, MRI and arthroscopic findings have been correlated in adults, but no such validation study has been performed in children. Thus, the purpose of our study was to identify MRI findings that predict instability of OCD lesions of the ankle in children. Read More

Meeting name: SPR 2020 Annual Meeting & Postgraduate Course , 2020

Authors: Patel Maya, Francavilla Michael, Longoria Cruz, Nguyen Michael, Barrera Christian, Nguyen Jie

Keywords: tibiotalar joint, OCD

Anatomic changes during bone growth and skeletal maturation are under-studied and incompletely understood, partially attributed to the sparing use of ionizing radiation in children. Recently, a clinically-feasible UTE (ultra-short echo time) MRI technique has emerged, enabling the direct visualization of bone. Although validated in adults, its spatial resolution and reproducibility have not been fully investigated in children. Therefore, the purpose of this study is 1) to determine the feasibility of UTE MRI to quantify changes in vertebral porosity and disc hydration along the thoracolumbar spine and 2) to investigate inter-rater reproducibility. Read More

Meeting name: SPR 2020 Annual Meeting & Postgraduate Course , 2020

Authors: Nguyen Jie, Hong Shijie, Nguyen Michael, Venkatesh Tanvi, Serai Suraj, Carson Robert, Barrera Christian, Cahill Patrick, Rajapakse Chamith

Keywords: quantitative MRI, bone, spine