The Exploration And Application Of MR Imaging In Patients With Lateral Epicondylitis Of The Elbow

Objective:Exploring using value of conventional scan sequence and functional imaging of MR in patients with lateral epicondylitis.Materials and Methods:23 cases with clinical diagnosed lateral epicondylitis received examination of conventional scan sequence and functional imaging (DWI and T2mapping) of MR. The pain of lateral epicondylitis was graded as mild, moderate or severe by VAS. The injury of the common extensor tendon was graded as mild, moderate or severe. The injury of lateral ulnar collateral ligament was graded as I , II or III levels. Spearman's rank correlation analysis was performed to compare VAS of pain with the injury of the common extensor tendon, correlations were considered significant at P﹤0.05. Spearman's rank correlation analysis also was performed to compare the injury of the common extensor tendon with the injury of lateral ulnar collateral ligament, correlations were considered significant at P﹤0.05. Paired-Samples T Test was performed to compare the T2 value and ADC value of extensor carpi radialis brevis of abnormal elbow with the T2 value and ADC value of extensor carpi radialis brevis of normal elbow. Differences were considered to be significant at P﹤0.05.Results:According to VAS , pain is mild (n = 8),moderate (n = 10), sever (n = 6).we analyzed MR images and found: the common extensor tendon is mild (n = 10),moderate (n = 7), sever (n = 7).the lateral ulnar collateral ligament is normal (n = 2) I (n = 9),II (n = 6), III (n = 7).accompanied with injury of radial collateral ligament (n = 8),medial collateral ligament(n =3 ), extensor (n = 7) , bone (n = 5), joint effusion (n = 6),biceps tendon(n = 1), anconeus (n = 7) . Positive correlation were seen between VAS of pain and The injury of the common extensor tendon(rs = 0.784, p﹤0.01). Spearman's rank correlation analysis showed positive correlation between the injury of the common extensor tendon and the injury of lateral ulnar collateral ligament (rs = 0.852,p﹤0.01). Paired-Samples T Test showed significant statistic differences between the T2 value and ADC value of extensor carpi radialis brevis of abnormal elbow and the T2 value and ADC value of extensor carpi radialis brevis of normal elbow(p﹤0.001).Conclusion:MRI is an important auxiliary examination to lateral epicondylitis. By conventional scan sequence of MR, we found that the injury of the common extensor is not a single lesion of epicondylitis, mostly accompanied with other changes, which play an important role in guiding how to treat lateral epicondylitis. We also find that extensor carpi radialis brevis play an important role in occurrence of lateral epicondylitis by functional imaging of MR.