Bone scintigraphy in acetabular labral tears.

Background: Acetabular labral tears are an increasingly recognized cause of hip pain in young adults with hip dysplasia and older patients with degenerative disease of the hips.

Methods: The authors analyzed retrospectively bone scintigraphy in 27 patients with acetabular labral tears diagnosed by MRI/arthroscopy. Analysis was also made of scintigraphy in 30 patients without labral tears being investigated for other causes of hip pain for comparison.

Results: Patients with labral tears had hyperemia of the superior or superomedial aspect of the acetabulum and increased delayed uptake in either a focal superior pattern or in an "eyebrow" pattern of a superomedial tear. This pattern was not seen in any other sources of hip pathology.

Conclusion: Uptake in the superior or superomedial aspect of the acetabular rim is characteristic of a labral tear. Absence of this pattern carries a high negative predictive value for the diagnosis.