The iliac wing sign: an indicator of the presence of bone and/or soft-tissue injury of the pelvis and hips.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate the feasibility of using the "iliac wing sign (IWS)" as an indicator of bone and/or soft-tissue injury of the pelvis and hips on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. IWS means edema of the iliacus muscle attachment entering the iliac wing that is visualized as a linear high signal intensity on fat-suppressed T2-weighted MR images.

Methods: Consecutive 106 patients who complained of hip pain were enrolled in this study.