Avaliação por ressonância magnética em equipamento de 3,0T do joelho de adolescentes assintomáticos praticantes de futebol

Abstract

Background: Athletes practicing medium to high impact sports, like soccer, are at a higher risk of developing articular injury, particularly of the knees and diagnosis can be made accurately by MRI. MRI scans performed in the knees of asymptomatic athletes have shown many imaging findings in previous studies. There are no studies performed using 3.0 T MRI to evaluate the knees of adolescent asymptomatic soccer players. Objective: The objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the knees of asymptomatic adolescent soccer players using 3.0T MRI. Subjects and methods: We evaluated 87 knees of asymptomatic male adolescents 14-17 years old. Participants were divided into two groups and paired by age and weight: soccer players (46 knees) and control subjects (41 knees). All the examinations were performed using a 3.0T MRI unit and were evaluated by two experienced radiologists blinded to study groups. Bone marrow signal, articular cartilage, meniscus, tendons, ligaments, fat pad abnormalities and joint fluid were assessed. Results: In the soccer player group, 31 knees (67.4%) had one or more abnormalities, whereas in the control group 20 knees (48.8%) had one or more abnormalities. The prevalence of bone marrow edema was much higher in the soccer player group (19 knees, 41.3%) than in the control group (3 knees, 7.3%), p=0,001. Other abnormalities where found in the soccer player group such as patellar tendinopathy, however not statistically significant with regard to study groups. Small articular effusion, Hoffa´s fat pad edema, patellar cartilage abnormalities and cysts where found in both groups. Conclusion: Asymptomatic subjects, both soccer players and controls were found to have a high prevalence of abnormalities depicted by 3.0T MRI scan, being bone marrow edema much more prevalent in soccer players. Findings at 3.0T MRI scan in this study population where similar to those in previous study using 0.35T MRI. Further studies comparing both equipments in the same population can be performed to give support to these findings