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Wk 5, Case 2 - Review

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This is a 14-year-old girl.

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This case is dramatically different from

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the one I showed you, which was extremely

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subtle, in which the diagnosis of complex

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regional pain syndrome was raised as

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a possibility along with apophysitis.

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It turned out not to be the case.

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There's another patient with a, with a

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dysplastic calcaneonavicular articulation.

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The snout is too broad, and that might

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be something that you would latch onto.

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this person, the interpreter of

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this case did and also said that the

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patient had multiple stress injuries.

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Let's scroll it.

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It's a case I never want you to forget.

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It's the most important case in the deck.

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Now, children run around a lot.

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And so I don't mind if they have this

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sort of patchy dotted pattern of edema.

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What do I call that?

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I call that overused syndrome or high

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bone turnover syndrome of the juvenile.

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A lot of them complain of vague amorphous pain.

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And I dismiss them 99 percent of the time.

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But when don't I dismiss them?

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When I see a focal area of linearity.

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Like this that looks a little bit like atrial

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fibrillation, then I start to, you know, then then

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I call it a stress fraction or it's coalesced in

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one spot, but I start to get really nervous when

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I see a demon and a child that borders the cortex.

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That favors the cortex and if you zoom out, look

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at how marbly looking the marrow is and look at

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where, why would you get a stress injury here?

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You don't put any stress on the dorsal navicular.

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That would be a really crazy odd place.

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So you have to use good old

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fashioned Aussie common sense.

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Why would you get a stress injury here?

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Very bizarre.

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Oh, this is complex regional

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pain syndrome in a child.

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And the T1 findings are usually

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nondescript or nonexistent.

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They're very minimal.

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Uh, we've got a coronal T1, you

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can see it, it almost looks normal.

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You can barely see the pattern of

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maroedema, and most of the time

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they don't have soft tissue changes.

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There is a soft tissue Pseudoect form

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of neurogenic reaction or neurovascular

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reaction, um, but that is uncommon.

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Most of the time, it starts out in

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the skeleton, and this patient has it.

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The T2 is also unimpressive.

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So without the proton density fat suppression,

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suppression image, TE50, you would, you

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would miss the diagnosis completely.

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Look at this subcortical edema

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here in the back of the calcaneus.

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That is a really weird

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pattern for stress phenomenon.

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Doesn't make any sense.

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She's also got an effusion.

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Now, what are some other causes of juxta

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articular juxtacortical edema was one

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major one that is inflammatory arthritis,

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but we can totally rule that out.

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One reason why we can partially rule

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it out is there's no sign of itis.

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But the reason we can totally

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rule it out is right here.

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There's no synovium on the

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dorsum of the navicular.

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That would be a weird place to have a

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synovial inflammatory skeletal reaction.

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You get it here where the joint is.

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It's non-articular.

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You know, you can even look

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here, not articular or here.

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So the fact that you have nonarticular peripheral

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window framing subcortical subperiosteal edema

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in a juvenile with an effusion, the diagnosis

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of complex regional pain syndrome is clinched

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and the patient needs a lumbar block and

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physical therapy, moving the extremity, right?

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As much as possible and Children who

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have this are frequently hospitalized so

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that they can get this movement returned.

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Uh, and they don't end up with a frozen

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foot again in the axial projection.

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Look at the peripheral nature

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of the edema right there.

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That's real.

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That's real.

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So is that.

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So is that.

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So is that there isn't a great

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correlation between the MRI and the

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and and the improvement of the patient.

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I know this well because someone in my family

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suffered from this condition for over a year.

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So I studied it extensively.

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And there is not a good correlation between the

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regression of edema and how the patient feels.

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But I'll tell you this, when they're treated

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and they get a lumbar block, their pain

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instantly decreases and the vasculature to

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the extremity changes within 20 seconds.

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You can see the foot actually

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go from blue to pink.

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So the patient knows that they're getting

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better and they'll be able to tell you the

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clinician, you know, my, my symptoms are

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coming back or my symptoms are improving.

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So we manage them in terms of symptoms.

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We don't typically use radiography unless the

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patient has taken a negative turn clinically.

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to decide whether they're getting better or not.

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You will know, and so will the clinician.

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What non-contrast features do you

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look for to diagnose synovitis?

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Um, one, juxta-articular edema.

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Not juxta-cortical, juxta-articular.

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Two, joint space narrowing.

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Three, if it's inflammatory,

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auto-digestion of cartilage.

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The cartilage is too thin.

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Four, Erosions.

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Those erosions could be, let's pull up a coronal.

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If we have one, we do.

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Those erosions could be central,

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marginal, or peripheral and para-articular.

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You might see such a weird erosion in gout.

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Number five, the capsule.

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It's not just distended.

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It's floppy.

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It's redundant.

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It doesn't look like it's just filled with fluid.

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It looks like it's elastic.

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You'll get capsules that look like this next.

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Within the capsule, you see synovial

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hypertrophy, which some people have

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described as little rice bodies.

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If those bodies get too big,

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you got to worry about synovial

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chondromatosis or osteochondromatosis.

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If they get really big, you got

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to worry about PVNS or localized

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giant cell tumor of tendon sheath.

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Pannus in the soft tissues, rheumatoid

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nodules, polyarticular involvement.

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symmetry where both extremities

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are involved, soft tissue swelling.

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Those are the features I look

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for to diagnose synovitis.

Report

Patient History
14-year-old girl, with previous history of fibular fracture 4-5 months prior, complaining of continued right ankle pain, swelling, and locking symptoms.

Findings
SKELETAL/BONES:
Pattern of patchy, mostly peripheral/subcortical (window frame type) osteoedema throughout the midfoot and hindfoot. Osteoedema more pronounced than typical pattern of stress/overuse related osteoedema.
No micro- or macro-trabecular fracture. No stress fracture. No aggressive osseous abnormality.

ARTICULATIONS:
Tibiotalar joint/talar dome: Mild to moderate capsulitis with a small posterior tibiotalar effusion.
Ankle mortise/syndesmosis: The ankle mortise is in anatomic alignment. No syndesmosis widening.
Chopart joint: Unremarkable.
Midfoot/hindfoot: No fracture or injury of the anterior calcaneal process. No prominent midfoot or hindfoot arthrosis.
Lisfranc joint: The Lisfranc joint is intact, without fracture or joint space widening.

LIGAMENTS:
High ankle: Intact.
Low ankle: Evidence for a remote 2-part low ankle sprain with a markedly thickened, fibrotic ATFL and calcaneofibular ligament. Posterior talofibular ligament swollen but intact. Deltoid ligament complex intact.
Subtalar/Chopart: Intact.

TENDONS:
Intact.

GENERAL:
Sinus tarsi: Unremarkable.
Muscles: No traumatic muscle injury. No volumetric muscle atrophy.
Soft tissue: Unremarkable.
Plantar fascia: Intact.
Neurovascular complex/tarsal tunnel: Unremarkable. No evidence of entrapment neuropathy.
Intra-articular/loose bodies: None.

Impressions
1. Findings highly suspicious for complex regional pain syndrome type 1 (CRPS type 1, previously known as RSD). Recommend assessment for allodynia, pilomotor and proprioception hypersensitivity. If clinical syndrome matches MRI diagnosis, strongly consider movement therapy and/or lumbar block.
2. Evidence for a remote/chronic 2-part low ankle sprain.

Case Discussion

Faculty

Stephen J Pomeranz, MD

Chief Medical Officer, ProScan Imaging. Founder, MRI Online

ProScan Imaging

Todd D. Greenberg, MD

Radiologist

ProScan

Tags

Musculoskeletal (MSK)

MRI

Foot & Ankle

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