Role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Diagnosing Patients Presenting with Non-Traumatic Hip Pain at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Sub-Himalayan Region

ABSTRACT

Background: Hip pain with a nonspecific history and clinical findings can present a diagnostic dilemma for a clinician. This study aimed to characterize the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) findings of various conditions which caused non-traumatic hip pain. Methods: An observational study was conducted on all patients who were referred to the Department of Radiodiagnosis at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Kangra at Tanda, Himachal Pradesh for MRI evaluation of non-traumatic hip pain. After being evaluated physically, MRI of the hip was done on a 1.5 Tesla MRI machine (Signa Excite, GE Healthcare). Images were obtained in the axial, coronal and sagittal planes. Data was analysed descriptively and tabulated. Results: During the study period, 61 consecutive [36 (59%) males and 25 (41%) females] patients with a history of non-traumatic hip pain were included, of which 54 patients were found to have a pathology. The most common intra-articular pathologies detected were infective arthritis in 22 (36%) cases, avascular necrosis (AVN) in 14 (23%), Perthes disease in 5 (8.2%), bone tumors in 2 (3.3%), inflammatory arthritis in 1 (1.6%), posterior labral calcification in 1 (1.6%), femoroacetabular impingement in 1 (1.6%) and stress fracture of femoral neck in 1(1.6%) patient. The extra-articular pathologies detected were bone tumors in 2 (3.3%) patients, stress fracture of pubic rami in 2 (3.3%), sacroilitis in 1 (1.6%), potts spine with bilateral psoas abscess in 1 (1.6%) and tendinits in 1 (1.6%) patient. Conclusions: This study presented our MRI observations of a wide spectrum of clinical cases which were referred to our department with non-traumatic hip pain. MRI assessments are sensitive and specific and enabled us to diagnose conditions in their early stages.