Magnetic resonance imaging findings of refractory tennis elbows and their relationship to surgical treatment.
Treatment of tennis elbow is a problem. We performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of 11 elbows in 11 patients who were referred to us with refractory tennis elbow. Of the 11 elbows, 6 showed a high signal intensity focus on MRI T2 images in the tendon of the extensor carpi radialis brevis at the lateral epicondyle. The other 5 elbows showed various abnormal findings on MRI. The mean age of the 6 patients with a high T2 signal focus was 52.0 years, and the mean morbidity period was 25 months. We performed enucleation of the granulation focus through a surgical approach without detachment of the tendon origin of the extensor carpi radialis brevis. Pain was relieved and elbow function recovered in all 6 cases. This study demonstrates that MRI is an important decision-making tool in the surgical treatment of this condition. Enucleation of the granulation focus with high T2 signal has proved to be effective in 6 selected cases.
Aoki
Mitsuhiro
M
Department of Physical Therapy, Sapporo Medical University School of Health Sciences, Sapporo, Japan. maoki@sapmed.ac.jp
Wada
Takuro
T
Isogai
Satoshi
S
Kanaya
Kohei
K
Aiki
Hikono
H
Yamashita
Toshihiko
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006097:Granulation Tissue / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013716:Tennis Elbow / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*