Musculoskeletal Imaging Flashcards
What is the purpose of cortical bone?
What is the purpose of cancellous bone?
Cortical: “hard” outer surface provides skeletal support and is site of attachment for tendons and ligaments
Cancellous: “spongy”/trabecular bone, found at ends of long bones pelvis ribs, skull and vertebrae (contains red/yellow bone marrow)
Axial skeleton consists of what two things?
What are the six parts of those two things?
-Consists of bones of head and trunk Six parts: -skull bones -ossicles of middle ear -hyoid bone -rib cage -sternum and vertebral column
Appendicular skeleton is divided into six major regions what are they?
-Pectoral girdles → clavicles and scapulae -Arms and forearms -Hands -Pelvis -Thighs/legs -Feet/ankles
Red marrow:
- ) What does it produce?
- ) At age 30 it is best seen?
1.) produces precursors of RBC’s
2.) Axial skeleton
-Consists of bones of head and trunk
Six parts:
-skull bones
-ossicles of middle ear
-hyoid bone
-rib cage
-sternum and vertebral column
Yellow Marrow:
- ) What does it contain?
- ) At age 30 it is best seen?
1.) Contains fat
2.) best seen in appendicular skeleton
-Pectoral girdles
→ clavicles and scapulae
-Arms and forearms
-Hands
-Pelvis
-Thighs/legs
-Feet/ankles
What is the epiphyseal line ?
Where growth in a long bone takes place
The metaphysis is the ?
The diaphysis is the?
The epiphysis is the?
1.) M= End of bones
→ The metaphysis is the narrow portion of a long bone between the epiphysis and the diaphysis. It contains the growth plate, the part of the bone that grows during childhood, and as it grows it ossifies near the diaphysis and the epiphyses.
- ) D=mid shaft of bone
- ) E=articular cartilage at the end of all long bones
Why do breaks usually occur at the ends of bones and not in the middle
because the cortical bone is the thickest mid-shaft b/c it supports most of our weight
Tendons attach?
Ligaments attach?
muscle to bone
L: bone to bone
Where do you go to look up the clinical guidelines to help you determine what right choice the best choice of “image testing” for your patient?
The American college of radiology (ACR) appropiateness criteria
X-rays are the initial imaging study of choice following skeletal trauma. They are used to evaluate?
- Cortical integrity
- Articular surface congruity
- Joint space lesion
- Osseous Lesion
CT Scan:
1.) CT scan is better than X-ray in?
2.) It is the imaging study of choice for?
- )
- Visualizing articular fracture extension**
- Assessing for presence of articular step-off/gap
- Evaluating aortic injuries in chest trauma - )
- Imaging study of choice in abdominal trauma
MRI:
- ) MRI’s are the cornerstone of ?
- ) MRI’s are very helpful in evaluating ?
- ) MRI are better than x-ray and CT in ?
- ) MRI’s are the modality of choice for?
1.) Cornerstone of neuroimaging
2.) very helpful in soft tissue evaluation such as
→Tendons
→Muscles
→Ligaments
3.) MRI are better than x-ray and CT in identifying occult fractures
- )MRI’s are the modality of choice for
- Disc herniation
- to assess “internal derangement” of joints
ex: ACL tear
- ) Ultra sound is commonly used in what type of setting?
2. ) In this “setting” it is used to asses?
1.) trauma setting
2.) Soft tissue injury
→ Achilles’ tendon rupture
→ quad tendon rupture
What is the most important musculoskeletal evaluation that you can preform?
Taking a patients medical history is the most important in musculoskeletal evaluation
The location and appearance of fracture depend on various factors, they are?
-Mechanism of injury
→ indirect force or direct force
-Age of patient
→ elderly or child
-Predisposing Factors
→ Osteoporosis
→ Osseous lesion
→ Trauma
- ) In 5% of fractures, fracture line is only visualized on
- ) In another 5 %, fracture line is only visualized on an?
- ) one of two orthogonal projections (Ex: AP vs. PA)
2. ) oblique (non-AP or lateral) projection
- ) If a patient has Ankle pain, do not order?
2. ) Instead you should order?
- ) tib-fib view
2. ) Order a 3-view Ankle series
A patient is symptomatic and highly suspect that there is a fracture even though their X-ray is negative. What should you do as a provider ?
- Treat as fracture and splint
- have patient follow up with ortho in 7-10 days
- repeat x-rays may show cortical changes
What are the steps for interpreting an X-ray? (3 steps)
1.) Make sure you have the correct patients name, gender, and DOB
- ) Make sure you have the correct region of the body
(ex: if you want an ankle x-ray don’t order tip-fib view)
3.) Is the X-ray taken of the correct affected side of the body? (Left vs. right)
- ) Most fractures lines appear ?
2. ) What does the Lucent line look like in non-displayed fractures ? So this means you will need?
- ) most fractures lines appear as a radiolucent line
- ) In non displaced fractures, Lucent lines are thin and maybe difficult to appreciate so you need two orthogonal views
- ) What are Mach bands?
2. ) What is the most common site to find them?
1.) appear at sites of cortex that overlap between two bones, or skin fold overlap of the cortex
- ) What are Mach bands?
2. ) What is the most common site to find them?
- ) appear at sites of cortex that overlap between two bones, or skin fold overlap of the cortex
- ) ankle radiographs→ were tibia overlaps fibula
Compression fractures may appear as ?
sclerotic fracture lines
Most common locations for sclerotic fracture lines are?
- ) vertebral bodies
2. ) distal radius
Cortical Buckling
- ) Cortical Buckling is seen in the absence of?
- ) Cortical buckling is most often seen at the ?
- ) Cortical buckling fractures look like?
- ) It is important to inspect all other projections because cortical buckling fractures can only be seen?
- ) • Cortical Buckling is seen in the absence of fracture line
- ) Often seen in the distal radius metaphysis (often seen in children)
- ) look like jagged edge or ramp
- ) May only be seen on one view, important to carefully inspect all projections
- ) Intra-articular extension fractures can be seen..?
2. ) These types of fractures can be
- ) Fractures can seen extending into the joint space (Lucent line goes right into joint space)
- ) ↑ risk of post-traumatic arthritis
1.) What are the three types of displacements?
2.) How would you describe displacement?
2 criteria steps
1.)
• Displacement
• Angulation
• Rotation
- )
a. direction of translation of DISTAL fracture component compared to PROXIMAL
b. the amount of translation (as percentage of bone width-in quartiles (25%, 50% etc.)
How would you describe angulation?
2.) What is important when assessing angulation?
1.) Describe direction of angulation of distal fracture component compared to proximal
→ ex: distal fragment is angulated to proximal fragment (lateral angulation)
2.) Important to use two orthogonal views to describe
- ) Rotation is describe as ?
- ) Why is a rotated fracture important to fix?
- ) how many views is it important to get?
- ) Turning of the distal fracture fragment in relation to proximal portion
* ** important to get two views
2.) Rotation very important to correct as anatomic alignment of bone critical to normal function
- ) Rotation is describe as ?
- ) Why is a rotated fracture important to fix?
- ) how many views is it important to get?
- ) Turning of the distal fracture fragment in relation to proximal portion
* ** important to get two views
2.) Rotation very important to correct as anatomic alignment of bone critical to normal function
Distraction fracture is described as ?
It is commonly seen with?
ex:
- fracture separated by a gap with no overlap
- common with transverse fracture that result from tension force
Ex: medial malleolar and patella fracture
→ quad muscle can spasm and pull patella up