title: [Post-surgical Achilles tendon and correlation with functional outcome: a review of 40 cases].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the value of MRI in the post operative evaluation of Achilles tendon rupture.
  
  
  METHODS
  40 patients treated for acute Achilles tendon rupture at the Pasteur Hospital of Cherbourg between 1994 and 2002 underwent postoperative MRI. The objective was to look for correlations between functional outcome and reproducible measurements from imaging data previously described in the literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We obtained only two positive correlations among all the combinations of comparisons: the first one between the perimeter of the calf and the surface area of the posterior muscle compartment, the second between the surface area of the operated tendon and its elongation estimated by the recalculated ratio of ankle dorsiflexion amplitude.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MRI plays no role in the routine follow-up of post-surgical Achilles tendons. It should consequently only be used as a specific tool in problem cases, such as evaluation of possible re-tear.
authors.affiliation: Service de chirurgie orthopédique et traumatologie, en collaboration avec le service d'imagerie médicale, Centre hospitalier Louis Pasteur, Cherbourg-Octeville.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wagnon
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akayi
mesh_terms: D000125:Achilles Tendon / Q000293:injuries* / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020127:Recovery of Function; D016896:Treatment Outcome