MRI is the current gold standard for the assessment of soft tissue, chondral, and bony pathologies of the knee joint.
In combination with conventional x-rays, MRI is usually the best choice for examining the body's major joints like the knee. The examination is typically performed to diagnose or evaluate: knee pain, weakness, swelling or bleeding in the tissues in and around the joint. damaged cartilage, meniscus, ligaments or tendons.
A CT scan can quickly create more detailed pictures of the knee than standard x-rays. The test may be used to detect: Abscess or infection. Broken bone.
An MRI will show a clearer picture of soft tissue and can provide more detail about injured ligaments or tumors. The CT scan can help to see through the density of an affected area, which can assist the doctor in evaluating how far along the cancer has spread, or how badly a bone may be damaged.
Both MRIs and CT scans can view internal body structures. However, a CT scan is faster and can provide pictures of tissues, organs, and skeletal structure. An MRI is highly adept at capturing images that help doctors determine if there are abnormal tissues within the body. MRIs are more detailed in their images.
A CT scan may be recommended if a patient can't have an MRI. People with metal implants, pacemakers or other implanted devices shouldn't have an MRI due to the powerful magnet inside the machine. CT scans create images of bones and soft tissues.
CT arthrography with multiplanar reconstructions can detect meniscus tears that are not visible on MRI. This technique is also useful in case of MRI contraindications, in postoperative assessment of meniscal sutures and the condition of cartilage covering the articular surfaces.
Acute severe pain means it hurts so much you can't walk, there is a deformity, or your knee is red, hot, and swollen. These symptoms would need an MRI to diagnose the problem.
thin vertical peripheral tears of the meniscus or small corner tears of the meniscocapsular and meniscotibial ligaments with fluid interposition.
An MRI of the knee can help find problems such as damage to the ligaments and cartilage around the knee. The MRI also can look for the cause of unexplained knee pain, the knee giving out for no reason, or infections in or around the knee.
A knee CT scan is often used to quickly inspect a patient after an accident in order to identify traumatic internal injuries. A Knee CT scan may help diagnose (find): A CT scan of the knee can diagnose a broken or fractured bone, cap or bone infection. It can also find bone tumors or masses, including cancer.
Where MRI really excels is showing certain diseases that a CT scan cannot detect. Some cancers, such as prostate cancer, uterine cancer, and certain liver cancers, are pretty much invisible or very hard to detect on a CT scan. Metastases to the bone and brain also show up better on an MRI.
A CAT scan can be a helpful test for different types of arthritis. It can examine the joints deep within the body that traditional x-rays may not be able to examine adequately, including the pelvic region or the spine.
A CT scanner circles the body and sends images to a computer. The computer uses these images to make detailed pictures. This allows doctors and trained technicians to see the muscles, tendons, ligaments, vessels, and bones that make up your knee.
MRI is the most effective way to diagnose problems within any joint and the image sensitivity makes it the most accurate imaging tool available in detecting arthritis and other inflammatory changes.
Since most issues get better on their own without medical treatment then if you have no red flags and are within the first 3 weeks after injury then an MRI can wait. If your knee pain is not getting better on its own after three weeks you should see a doctor.
What Medicare Benefits Cover Knee MRIs? In this case, Medicare Part B will be responsible for covering the cost of your MRI. However, you will be responsible for paying for your deductible and copayment, just like you'd pay if you had a CT scan, X-ray, PET scan, or EKG.
The pain may be sharp or instead it can just be a constant dull ache sensation. It usually hurts more when bending the knee deeply or straightening it fully. It can also hurt when twisting on the knee with your foot fixed on the ground.
Injury to the knee ligaments, including the MCL, can be best seen on MRI. There can be various presentations of MCL injuries on MRI. However, certain injury findings in the knee can be potentially missed on MRI [4].
Diagnostic value of MRI
The accuracy was good for ACL injuries (87.6%) and PCL injuries (84.5%), moderate for MCL injuries (69.1%) and LCL injuries (66.9%), low for the meniscus injuries (45.4%).
MRI gives a good picture of the size of a meniscus tear and where it is. It also shows ligaments, cartilage, and tendons. MRIs of the knee are helpful to identify a meniscus tear and to find any related injuries to the ligament, cartilage, and tendons.
The sensitivity was significantly lower for tears located in the posterior horn and for vertically oriented tears. Therefore, special attention should be given to the peripheral posterior horns of the meniscus, which are common sites of injury that could be easily missed on MRI.
Not only can abdominal CT scans help identify areas of inflammation–they often detect what's causing the inflammation. For example, kidney stones and gallstones create swelling and pain and these pesky stones can be seen on a CAT scan.
Pain. A torn meniscus usually produces well-localized pain in the knee. The pain often is worse during twisting or squatting motions. Unless the torn meniscus has locked the knee, many people with a torn meniscus can walk, stand, sit, and sleep without pain.