Radiology Flashcards
What are reasons for ordering radiographic tests in ortho?
- hx of blunt trauma
- deformity of bone or jt following injury
- hx of pain, swelling, or loss of motion of a jt, sense of instability
- infection
- fb
- night pain
Use of MRI in general?
- provides good contrast b/t diff soft tissue of body, makes it especially useful in imaging brain, muscles, heart, cancers compared w/ other medical imaging techniques
Use of MRI in ortho?
- eval soft tissue injury as apposed to bony injury. Ex is ligament injury, tendon injury, muscle
- better eval of soft tissue mass
- R/O fluid collection in body
- define abnormalities w/in bone seen on x-ray
- r/o stress fracture or infection (osteomyelitis)
- eval spinal injury (gold standard for spine)
Specific structures we analyze w/ MRI?
- knee: ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL, meniscus, loose body
- shoulder: rotator cuff, biceps, labrum
- elbow: ulnar and radial ligaments, extensor and flexor tendon insertion for epicondylitis, biceps tendon rupture, loose body
- wrist: extensor carpi ulnaris injury, TFCC tear
- ankle and foot: anterior tibial tendon injury, peroneal, tibial tendon, achilles tendon partial tear
- hip: labral tear
Soft tissue masses seen on MRI?
- lipoma
- hematoma
- osteosarcoma
- ganglion cyst
Fluid collection that can be seen on MRI?
- effusion of jt, shoulder, hip
- no need for MRI olecranon bursitis, patellar bursitis
- infection fluid collection w/in soft tissue compartments
- baker’s cyst in knee
Bone abnorm you can see on MRI?
- stress fracture: tibia, metatarsals, tibial plateau, femoral neck
- lytic or blastic lesions seen on xray
- bone contusion
- r/o occult fracture, scaphoid
- avascular necrosis
- osteomyelitis
Spine pathology that you can dx on MRI?
- herniated disc
- bulged disc
- spinal stenosis
- compression fx, acute vs chronic
- neoplasm
- pars defect (acute vs chronic)
Reasons for ordering CT scan in ortho?
- cervical injury: due to mult overlapping shadows and images on xray, CT scan better r/o cervical fx after trauma
- reconstructing and better defining communited fx such as: acetbaular fx, calcaneous, articular**
- eval jts for preop eval for surgery
- better for bony surfaces
- CT myelogram of spine for individuals that can’t undergo MRI due to pacemaker or other metal objects. Myelogram is CT w/ radiographic dye injected into dura
What is a bone scan? Used for?
- nuclear medicine study: inject small amt of radioactive material and then scanned w/ gamma camera
- scan may be full body or localized: SPECT
- will show bone turn over and osteoblastic activity, but won’t show osteoclastic activity
- used for bone mets: prostate, less for lytic lesions (MM), also used for stress fracture, infection, occult fx
Ways to describe fx on xray? How many xrays should be done?
- displacement
- angulation (where is apex of fx?)
- avulsion
- impaction
- intra-articular
- comminuted
- spiral
- greenstick
- buckle
- transverse vs oblique
- number depends on location and injury: usually 2 views of 90 degrees to eachother, re-xr in a week
How many xray shoulder views should you get?
- AP: good for AC jt
- axillary: can see lesser tuberosity, glenohumeral jt
- Y: indication is if pt can’t give axillary view, trying to see dislocation
How many X-ray views of humerus are done?
- AP and lateral
Elbow xrays: how many views?
- AP (looking for avulsion fx) and lateral (have 90 degrees flexion)
What dictates if it is a true forearm xray?
- need full forearm in X-ray including wrist and elbow
- get AP and lateral
Wrist xrays?
- AP, lateral and oblique
Hand xray positions?
- AP, lateral, oblique
Lumbar spine xrays? what are we looking for?
- AP and lateral
- can get oblique: looking for pars fx (scotty dog)
- spinous processes
- kyphosis, lordosis
- arthritis
- SI jts: arthritis
- ankylosing spondylitis: see in SI jts first b/f bamboo spine
Pelvis xray?
want entire ring
- can see rami fx, want to see L5-S1
- get CT for pelvic fx (don’t want to miss anything)
What are we looking for on Hip AP?
- at acetabulum, femoral head (want it to be concave not convex - acetbaular femoral impingement)
- looking for crescent sign: AVN
RFs for AVN:
corticosteroids
previous fx, hip dislocation
ETOH
Xray views of knee?
AP, lateral, sunrise (can see patella)
- make sure wt bearing films are ordered (arthritis)