title: Prevalence of acetabular labral tears in asymptomatic children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a sensitive, non-invasive modality to diagnose acetabular labral pathology, and the normal variants of the acetabular labrum have been characterized in adults. However, the prevalence of labral pathology in the asymptomatic pediatric population is unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  All pelvic MRIs performed at a large tertiary-care children's hospital were reviewed during one calendar year (2014). Only patients aged between 2 and 18 years were included, and scans were excluded for hip pain/pathology or technical inadequacy. A blinded pediatric musculoskeletal radiologist read all eligible scans for the presence or absence of a labral tear.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred and ninety-four pelvic MRIs were screened, and patients were excluded for hip pain/pathology (85 subjects), or technical inadequacy (190 subjects). One hundred and eight subjects (216 hips) met the inclusion criteria and were technically adequate for analysis. Labral tears were visualized in three of 216 (1.4 %) hips (two of the 110 subjects; 1.9 %).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is a low rate of asymptomatic labral pathology by MRI in pediatric patients. The clinical history remains the means of differentiating real labral pathology from spurious imaging findings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case series (prevalence).
authors.affiliation: Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th and Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Georgiadis
authors.affiliation: Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th and Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Seeley
authors.affiliation: Division of Radiology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Chauvin
authors.affiliation: Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th and Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA. sankarw@email.chop.edu.
authors.forename: Wudbhav N
authors.initials: WN
authors.lastname: Sankar
keywords: Acetabular labral tears; MRI labrum; Pediatric acetabular labrum