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CT arthrography detects hard-to-spot cartilage lesions in patients with ankle fractures
Kraniotis P. Skeletal Radiol. 2011. doi: 10.1007/s00256-011-1292-2
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Greek reasearchers found that CT arthrography can detect radiographically silent cartilage lesions in patients who have sustained ankle fractures — though the extent of these lesions did not correlate with the patient’s American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society score.
The study investigated 21 patients who underwent ankle CT arthrography (CTa) following a 565-day mean postoperative period. Two radiologists analyzed the CTa images, with articular surface post-traumatic collapse and subsequent cartilage defects or erosions being recorded in millimeters and a binary mode, respectively.
American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score was used to assess functional outcome, with analysis being used to correlate AOFAS score with both imaging parameters.
The study found that of the 12 articular surface steps investigated, two (16.67%) were anterolateral, four (33.33%) were posterolateral, five (41.67%) were anteromedial and one (8.33%) was posteromedial. Seven (16.67%) of the 42 cartilage lesions identified were anterolateral, 14 (33.33%) were posterolateral, 12 (28.57%) were anteromedial and nine (21.43%) were posteromedial. The authors reported a mean AOFAS score for all patients of 8.67.
“There was no statistically significant correlation between the AOFAS score and the post-traumatic internal derangement of the ankle joint,” the authors wrote.