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Anterior Inferior Iliac Spine Avulsion

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Let's spend a little time on this pelvic

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radiograph and talk about the various avulsion

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injuries that can occur in this region.

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I have three progressive plain film

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radiographs for you from various states.

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The first one is from February, the

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next one is from April, and the final

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one is going to be from September.

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So you sort of see the progression of

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what some of these injuries can look like.

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This is the very first exam.

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This was a child who presented

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with right pelvic pain.

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And there are many things to

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look at on this radiograph.

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We want to make sure that there's

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congruity between the joint spaces

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on the right side and the left side.

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We're going to make sure that the growth

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plates are nice and symmetric, that the

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femoral heads don't have any lucencies,

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or sclerosis involved with it.

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And finally, what I do is I look

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at the insertion sites of various

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muscle groups about the pelvis.

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There are insertion sites for abdominal

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muscles, there's insertion sites for Sartorius,

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rectus femoris, adductor groups, and we'll

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go through each one of them separately.

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But one of those problems

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here, we can already see.

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If you pay attention a little bit to the

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symmetry from one side to the other, you

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notice that there's a little fuzziness,

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right at this location, with a little

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bit of what looks like ossification or

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calcification here on the right side.

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Let me zoom up on that for you,

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just so you have a better idea.

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Okay, so here is the area of abnormality.

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And let's just go to the other

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side and show you over here.

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So even this side actually isn't quite normal.

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Do you see this white structure here?

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Let me go and outline that for you.

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So above the femoral head is

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this very sclerotic white line.

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I'm going to draw that

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for you in yellow or gold.

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It's this structure right here.

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Okay?

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Okay?

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That is called the sourcil.

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Sourcil means eyebrow in French, okay?

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That is the weight-bearing

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portion of your acetabulum.

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So all the stuff out here is non-weight-bearing.

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So there has been some chronic

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tugging by a muscle insertion site to

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create that little bony excrescence.

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That's a chronic problem on the left side.

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On the right side, we also

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have this nice sourcil.

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But look how fuzzy, let me make

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it a little different color.

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Look how fuzzy this margin is.

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And you've got little pieces

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of bone right over here.

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So there's a more acute

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problem at that location.

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So this is an example of an avulsion

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injury, particularly involving the

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anterior inferior iliac spine or AIIS.

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And what attaches there?

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It is the rectus femoris muscle.

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Thank you.

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You have several other places

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where you have attachment sites.

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You have one over here, okay, and that

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is the sartorius muscle attachment site,

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and that is the anterior superior iliac spine.

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Where else do you have it?

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You have one over here, in the

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greater trochanter, and that is

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where the gluteus muscles attach.

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You have one down here, in the

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lesser trochanter, and that is where we

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have the attachment site for the iliopsoas.

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We have over here,

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in these two areas, and that is the symphysis

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pubis area and adductor groups attach there.

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And what we can't see here is at the very top.

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Now, over here at the iliac crest, we

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also have abdominal muscle groups that

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attach and cause avulsion injuries.

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And finally, I forgot to mention one last

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one, right down here and down here, that

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is where we have the ischial tuberosity

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and hamstrings attached there and that's

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the avulsion you can get over there.

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So these are the various

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avulsion sites that you can have.

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So it's really important to pay close

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attention to all these areas when you evaluate

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any kind of pelvic injury or pelvic pain.

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Let us now go back to our original image.

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I'm going to zoom out just a little bit.

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And span, and again, here, right here

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is where you have iliac crest, that's

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where I couldn't show you very well.

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That's where we have the abdominal

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muscle musculature attaching

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and can cause avulsion injuries.

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So this was the exam in February.

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Let's see how the healing process develops.

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Same child, in April now, I'm

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going to zoom up just a little bit.

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And you notice that this area is getting

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a little bit more fuzzy, a little

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bit more healing, callus formation.

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Again, we know that's becoming

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a more chronic process.

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And finally, in September,

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further healing has occurred.

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And this is the typical appearance of what

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an avulsion injury as it heals looks like.

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Again, if you notice, you can actually see

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where the margin of the weight-bearing side

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ends because you see this nice white border,

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which is the sore seal on both sides.

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Anything beyond the sore seal is extra bone.

Report

Faculty

Mahesh Thapa, MD, MEd, FAAP

Division Chief of Musculoskeletal Imaging, and Director of Diagnostic Imaging Professor

Seattle Children's & University of Washington

Tags

X-Ray (Plain Films)

Trauma

Pediatrics

Musculoskeletal (MSK)

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