ACL Tear

An Anterior Cruciate Ligament tear is common among knee injuries. The ACL is a weaker ligament then the other internal knee ligament Posterior Cruciate Ligament. This MRI image is utilizing a PD weighted sequence in the sagittal view and demonstrates a missing ACL. This patient was a 14 year old male and suffered a sport injury. I am very familiar with this type of injury because I too suffered an ACL tear during a football game. I can tell you he has a long recovery time if he chooses to have surgery to reconstruct his ACL. It probably took me a year before I felt 100 percent.

MRI Useful for Detecting Nondisplaced Fractures

This was patient who complaining of upper arm pain status post fall. While being treated in the ER she received an x-ray of her humerus which was read normal. After the pain persists she was sent to me to have a MRI on her shoulder where we easily could see a non displaced fracture of her greater tuberosity. In MRI it is easy to pick up on fractures which are not easily defined with other modalities. We use fat suppression techniques which highlight bone edema. Notice on this T2 coronal image with fat suppression how the pathology lights up like a light bulb.

Trochanteric Bursitis

In MRI we commonly scan the pelvis area for pain. These patients typically have had negative xrays or even CT'S. One advantage for MRI is we can see fluid or inflammation with techniques such as T2 weighted with fat suppression or STIR sequences. These techniques suppress fat and brighten (hyperintense) fluid. One common finding is trochanteric bursitis. According to an article found on the website http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic+a00409 which is produced by American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, bursitis is caused by inflammation of a bursa. Bursa is a small jelly-like sac that acts like a cushion between bones and overlying soft tissues. This can result from trauma, repetitive stress, spine disease and among others. Treatment is usually minor such as modification of activities or anti-inflammatory drugs but in rare cases surgery is needed for resection of the bursa. Here are some pictures of patients I have recently scanned that were found to be diagnosed with trochanteric bursitis.

Pancreatic Mass

These are unfortunately on patient just recently scanned here at my facility. The study was ordered after seeing a possible mass on the bottom of a chest CT for evaluation of a lung mass. There is a mass on the tail of pancreas. This mass is very suspicious for malignancy due to the characterization presented on the MRI images and the patients history on the CT. These MRI images are axial and coronal Fast SPGR with fat saturation on. This lesion demonstrates enhancement post contrast. If this is determined to be pancreatic cancer and has spread to lungs the prognosis is usually not good. This is one of the things that can make in my opinion our jobs as diagnostic technologists tough! In fact, according to literature found on website, https//health.google.com/health/ref/pacreatic+carcinoma, 95% of patients do not survive longer than 5 years.

Chest Patholgy/ Cystic Fibrosis

This is especially sensitive area for me and may be reason I am currently work in the medical field. My sister suffers from cystic fibrosis and is currently 30 years old and having numerous health complications from respiratory system to the digestive system. These are lung pictures from a web page, www.eradimaging.com/site/article.cfm?id=327. Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disorder affecting approximately 30,000 people in U.S. and approximately 70,000 worldwide. One of the complications from C.F. is the thick secretions that develop from a salt imbalance from a protein defect. These thick mucous like secretions enter the lungs leading to infection, inflammation, and obstructions. Over the years the lungs become diseased and scarred and pulmonary specialists monitor or stage with diagnostic imaging such radiographs or CT images. While the latest technology and treatments have made it possible for people who suffer from this disorder to live longer, there is no cure and eventually leads to death. 95% of all deaths are from lung complications.

lumbar spondylolisthesis

This patient came in with severe low back pain and had multiple diagnoses which may be the problem. One diagnoses which I see from time to time was spondylolisthesis. An article by Mary Rodts, DNP, CNP, ONC, FAAN goes in detail on this condition, which was found on the web at http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article114.html. This is a condition where one vertebra slips over another. This is found most frequently in lumbar area and is graded by severity on how far it is slipped forward. The grades go from least severe (grade 1) to most severe (grade 5). This patient had a grade 2 almost grade 3 diagnoses which means 50 to 70 percent of the vertebral body has slipped forward. This is a sagittal T2 image of the lumbar spine.

Thoracic Stenosis

Thoracic stenosis is a condition where the spinal nerves or spinal cord is compressed in that region. I recently scanned a patient with back pain and abnormal sensations in their lower extremities. This was an elderly patient which we frequently get orders for to rule compression fracture or spinal stenosis. This patient had a T7-T8 paracentral disc protusion that mildly flattened the ventral aspect on the spinal cord on the right. Disc buldges can cause problems a little easier in the thoracic region due to the naturally narrower spinal canal of the thoracic. I see this in other regions where a patient has a congenital narrower spinal canal such as in cervical region, it immediately is problematic by touching the cord. If that same patient had more room in the canal it may not be as severe.