Abstract
We imaged 75 hips in 40 patients using fat saturation technique before and after intravenous injection of contrast (0.1 mmol/kg gadolinium diethylene triamine penta-acetic acid, Gd-DTPA). Eighteen hips in 11 patients were determined to be osteonecrotic, either by pathologic or clinical examination. In the osteonecrotic hips, three distinct patterns of enhancement were found: (I) focal area outlined by brightly enhancing rim (7 hips); (II) diffuse enhancement in the femoral head and neck extending into the femoral shaft (3 hips); and (III) a combination of patterns I and II (8 hips). Our data support the hypothesis that early nontraumatic osteonecrosis is associated with hyperemia and/or an increase in capillary permeability rather than acute devascularization, and that diffuse marrow edema is the initial finding in early nontraumatic osteonecrosis.
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Li, K.C.P., Hiette, P. Contrast-enhanced fat saturation magnetic resonance imaging for studying the pathophysiology of osteonecrosis of the hips. Skeletal Radiol. 21, 375–379 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00241816
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00241816