title: Magnetic resonance imaging findings of refractory tennis elbows and their relationship to surgical treatment.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Sapporo Medical University School of Health Sciences, Sapporo, Japan. maoki@sapmed.ac.jp
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Takuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Isogai
authors.forename: Kohei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanaya
authors.forename: Hikono
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aiki
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashita
mesh_terms: 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*