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Researchers find MRI is indicated to evaluate hip pain in pediatric patients
Researchers concluded in a study of radiographs of pediatric patients that MRI, rather than ultrasound or computer tomography, should be used to evaluate hip pain in 12-year-old girls and 14-year-old boys prior to closure of the triradiate cartilage.
“The ossification of the posterior wall of the acetabulum is completed in a predictable manner prior to closure of the triradiate cartilage,” Peter D. Fabricant, MD, and colleagues wrote in the study abstract.
Fabricant and colleagues studied 180 radiographs of 4-year-old through 15-year-old patients for ossification patterns of the posterior wall of the acetabulum. They found that posterior wall ossification develops behind anterior wall ossification and will typically begin to ossify at 8 years old.
At 12 years, a discrete rim of posterior calcification occurs prior to elements of the posterior acetabular wall fusing to the pelvis, which preceded the closing of the triradiate cartilage, according to the abstract.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.