Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the assesement of ankle injuries

The ankle is a lower limb segment that joints the ankle with the foot, slightly covered by the soft tissues, but very much used while standing and in motion. Due to anatomical complexity of the ankle, not shown by radiography and scintigraphy, MRI remains the primary method for multiplanar imaging. A good knowledge of the normal MRI aspect of the ankle has a great importance for a proper identification of the bony-meniscal-ligamentar lesions and their pathologies. Considering that in some sport activities the ankle and especially the tendons are very exposed to traumatic lesions, we have made a MRI retrospective study on a lot of 170 patients to identify and evaluate these lesions. The MRI exam showed associated tendinous lesions in most of the cases. Most of these lesions were injuries of the Achilles tendon (especially partial tears) and injuries of the flexor hallucis longus. We identified other tendinous lesions too but in a smaller percentage. We used in our study a magnetic resonance machine of 1T. Patients were placed in supine position, with the examined foot in plantar flexion. The acquisitions were made in three planes (sagittal coronal and axial), using the T1 SE, T2 SE, T1 TIRM, PD FS, T2 fl2D and T2 de3D sequences, with 3 mm thick sections and a 16 cm FOV. The MRI exam is the main technique for a multiplanar imaging of the tendons and their relations with the surrounding structures.