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Purpose: To compare the insertions of the conjoint tendon (CT) on MRI in athletes with and without symptoms and to assess their relationship to groin pain with surgery as a reference., Materials and Methods: Between January and May 2017, patients with inguinal-related groin pain undergoing Shouldice repair were prospectively enrolled and underwent MRI. Exams were independently reviewed by two radiologists blinded to surgical results to assess types of CT insertion as high muscular without (type 1) or with tendinous expansion (type 2) or low muscular (type 3). Radiological and surgical results were compared. Patients were compared with a gender- and age-matched control group of asymptomatic athletes., Results: One hundred twenty-eight walls (64 in patients, 64 in controls) in 64 subjects (32 patients and 32 controls, only men; mean age, 31.7 ± 10 years; range, 15.0-54.8) were analyzed. CT insertion was defined as types 1, 2, and 3 in 32/128 (25%), 35/128 (27%), and 61/128 (48%) walls, respectively, with 22/64 (34%), 27/64 (42%), and 15/64 (23%) in patients and 10/64 (16%), 8/64 (12.5%), and 46/64 (72%) in controls. Type s1+2 were significantly more frequent in patients compared with that in controls (p < 0.01). MRI predicted a high CT insertion with a sensitivity and specificity of 97% (95%CI 85-99) and 62% (95%CI 36-82). The intra- and inter-reader agreement for the prediction of the type of insertion was excellent (k > 0.75)., Conclusion: A high CT insertion is more frequent in athletes with groin pain and may be a predisposing factor. MRI could help predict the type of CT insertion., Key Points: • MR imaging should be included in the initial workup of patients with inguinal-related groin pain. • MR imaging can be used to visualize the type of insertion with acceptable results. • High insertion of the conjoint tendon may be a predisposing factor for inguinal-related groin pain.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to build and evaluate a high-performance algorithm to detect and characterize the presence of a meniscus tear on magnetic resonance imaging examination (MRI) of the knee., Material and Methods: An algorithm was trained on a dataset of 1123 MR images of the knee. We separated the main task into three sub-tasks: first to detect the position of both horns, second to detect the presence of a tear, and last to determine the orientation of the tear. An algorithm based on fast-region convolutional neural network (CNN) and faster-region CNN, was developed to classify the tasks. The algorithm was thus used on a test dataset composed of 700 images for external validation. The performance metric was based on area under the curve (AUC) analysis for each task and a final weighted AUC encompassing the three tasks was calculated., Results: The use of our algorithm yielded an AUC of 0.92 for the detection of the position of the two meniscal horns, of 0.94 for the presence of a meniscal tear and of 083 for determining the orientation of the tear, resulting in a final weighted AUC of 0.90., Conclusion: We demonstrate that our algorithm based on fast-region CNN is able to detect meniscal tears and is a first step towards developing more end-to-end artificial intelligence-powered diagnostic tools., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.)

Introduction: The treatment of persistent cervical radicular pain (CRP) by CT-guided epidural steroid injections (CTESI) by a transforaminal anterolateral (TFA) approach is associated with rare but serious complications. Two recently described transforaminal posterolateral (TFP) and transfacet indirect (TFT) approaches may be safer options, but have not been extensively evaluated. We compared the efficacy of three CTESI approaches (TFA, TFP, and TFT) in the treatment of persistent CRP (>6 weeks)., Methods: Patients were prospectively assessed for pain using the visual analog scale (VAS) and for functional disability by the Neck Disability Index (NDI) before treatment, then 6 weeks and 6 months after CTESI., Results: A total of 104 patients were included (n = 30 TFA, n = 36 TFP, and n = 38 TFT approaches). Each group was found to have a statistically significant improvement at 6 weeks (median VAS values: 7 (2-9) at D0 and 2 (3-6) at 6 weeks p < 0.01; median NDI values: 38 (24-50) at D0 and 29 (18-42) at 6 weeks (p < 0.01)), and at 6 months (median VAS values: 7 (2-9) at D0 and 4 (2-6) at 6 months (p < 0.01); median NDI values: 38 (24-50) at D0 and 28 (13-40) at 6 months (p < 0.01)). No significant difference was observed in the decrease in VAS and NDI scores among the three approaches at 6 weeks (p = 0.635 and p = 0.54 for VAS and NDI respectively) or 6 months (p = 0.704 and p = 0.315 for VAS and NDI respectively). No major complications were noted., Conclusion: The results of CTESI using the TFP or TFT approach are similar to those for TFA in the treatment of persistent CRP and could be a safer option.

Inguinal canal-related groin pain is common in athletes and may involve numerous structures such as the conjoint tendon and the transversalis fascia. Ultrasound is the only dynamic tool that shows the passage of preperitoneal fat at the level of the Hesselbach triangle and allows excluding true inguinal hernias. Fascia transversalis bulging and inguinal ring dilatation may also be described. MRI assesses injuries of rectus abdominis and adductor longus enthesis and osteitis symphysis but its accuracy for the diagnosis of inguinal-related groin pain remains debated.

Osteoporosis circumscripta is sometimes observed at the skull vault and corresponds to the initial stage of Paget's disease of the bone. Differentiating osteoporosis circumscripta from other reasons for osteolytic images of the vault may be difficult. We report a case of osteoporosis circumscripta of the frontal bone. A lucent rim seen on CT scan, which was enhanced on gadolinium-enhanced MRI, delineated the abnormal bone. The patient was a 50-year-old woman who had CT scans of the skull for chronic sinusitis. Pathology examination showed typical bone changes of Paget's disease. The lucent and enhancing rim sign may help in differentiating Paget's disease from other conditions.

Objectives: To determine the predictors of sacroiliitis detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in children with enthesitis-related arthritis., Methods: In this retrospective, longitudinal study, we retrieved clinical and laboratory data from the charts of patients with confirmed enthesitis related arthritis and evaluated their association with magnetic sacroiliitis detected at first MRI after disease onset. The MRI images of sacroiliac joints were read by 2 independent radiologists and validated against those from 25 age- and sex-matched subjects with known non-rheumatologic conditions., Results: We reviewed the clinical records of 20 patients with enthesitis-related arthritis for whom MRI images of sacroiliac joints were available. Five had bilateral MRI sacroiliitis, 3 unilateral sacroiliitis while 12 had no sacroiliitis. All MRI images of sacroiliiitis showed bone-marrow oedema but no erosions, sclerosis or sacroiliac enthesitis. Personal history of buttock pain or abnormal physical examination of sacroiliac joints predicted MRI sacroiliitis with a positive predictive value of 0.75 (95% confidence interval 0.35-0.95). In the absence of these clinical elements, MRI sacroiliitis was unlikely to be found (negative predictive value 0.83; 95% confidence interval 0.50-0.97)., Conclusion: In children with enthesitis-related arthritis the presence of buttock pain or of abnormal sacroiliac joint examination is a strong predictor of magnetic sacroiliitis., (Copyright © 2017 Société française de rhumatologie. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.)