Imaging the Pediatric Athlete: Acute and Stress Skeletal Injuries.

Sports-related traumatic injuries in children have increased in tandem with participation in higher level activities. The developing musculoskeletal structures in children are susceptible to unique injuries that vary with location and the stage of skeletal maturation. The imaging evaluation of sports injuries in children presents several unique challenges.

The Effect of Bony Parameters on the Pediatric Knee: Normal versus Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury versus Tibial Spine Avulsion Fracture.

 Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries can present as a ligamentous disruption or avulsion fracture of the tibial spine in pediatric patients. Differences in knee morphometric parameters have been investigated between pediatric cohorts with ACL disruptions and tibial spine avulsion fractures. However, no study to date has compared morphometric parameters in patients with tibial spine avulsion fracture against a control population.

Combined posterolateral corner and acute anterior cruciate ligament injuries in an adolescent cohort: a magnetic resonance imaging analysis.

Purpose: Failure of a reconstructed anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) has significant morbidity in the paediatric and adolescent patient population. Untreated concomitant posterolateral corner (PLC) injury is an identified cause of failed ACL reconstruction; however, the injury pattern has yet to be defined for the paediatric population.

Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the knee performed between 1 January 2009 and 1 January 2013 were retrospectively reviewed.

Knee morphometric risk factors for acute anterior cruciate ligament injury in skeletally immature patients.

Study Design: Retrospective, case-control.

Purpose: Knee morphometric risk factors for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury have been a popular topic with skeletally mature patients. Little research has focused on the skeletally immature, with conflicting conclusions.

Blunt renal trauma in children with pre-existing renal abnormalities.

The kidneys are the most commonly injured genitourinary organ in children following blunt abdominal trauma. Though the retroperitoneal location affords the kidneys some protection from the forces experienced in blunt abdominal trauma, the kidneys are at greater risk of injury when a disease process exposes them from their normal shielded location. In such cases, the injuries may appear to be disproportionate in relation to the severity of the trauma history, confusing the imaging findings.

MRI of displaced meniscal fragments.

A torn meniscus frequently requires surgical fixation or debridement as definitive treatment. Meniscal tears with associated fragment displacement, such as bucket handle and flap tears, can be difficult to recognize and accurately describe on MRI, and displaced fragments can be challenging to identify at surgery. A displaced meniscal fragment can be obscured by synovium or be in a location not usually evaluated at arthroscopy.