van der Horst RA, Tol JL, Weir A, den Harder JM, Moen MH, Maas M, Reurink G. The value of MRI STIR signal intensity on return to play prognosis and reinjury risk estimation in athletes with acute hamstring injuries.
J Sci Med Sport 2021;
24:855-861. [PMID:
33622615 DOI:
10.1016/j.jsams.2021.02.008]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Revised: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
Previous studies have shown low to moderate evidence for a variety of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features as prognostic factors in athletes with hamstring injuries. Short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) signal intensity has not yet been investigated for assessing the prognosis of acute muscle injuries. Our aim was to explore the relationship between MRI STIR signal intensity and time to return to play (RTP) and to investigate the association between MRI STIR and reinjury risk in athletes with acute hamstring injuries.
STUDY DESIGN
Case-control study.
METHODS
We used MRI STIR to measure intramuscular signal intensity in patients with clinically diagnosed hamstring injuries at two time points: at injury and RTP. At injury, we calculated the association of MRI STIR signal intensity with the time to RTP and reinjury risk. At RTP, the association of MRI STIR signal intensity and reinjury risk and the change in MRI STIR signal intensity over time on reinjury risk was evaluated.
RESULTS
51 patients were included. We found increased MRI STIR signal intensity: (1) at time of injury not to be associated with time to RTP, (2) at time of injury to be associated with a slightly lower risk for reinjury: odds 0.986 (0.975-0.998, p=0.02) and (3) at RTP not to be associated with reinjury risk. (4) We found no association between the change in MRI STIR signal intensity over time and reinjury risk.
CONCLUSION
Increased MRI STIR signal intensity at injury has no value in time to RTP prognosis, but is associated with a reduced reinjury risk.
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