Aim of the Work: to assess the role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a non-invasive diagnostic modality in adult patients with the non-traumatic painful hip joint.
Patients and Methods: This study was conducted on 60 adult patients with non-traumatic hip pain, referred from the outpatient orthopedic clinic, Ain Shams University hospitals. The patients were investigated using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). All MR imaging examinations were conducted at the Department of Radiodiagnosis of the Ain shams University with the same 1.5-T unit (Philips Healthcare, Best, the Netherlands) with a body coil.
Results: avascular necrosis is the commonest cause of bilateral hip pain (25%) of the study patients followed by osteoarthritis (11.7%), while unilateral hip pain is commonly caused by stress fractures (8.3%), isolated joint effusion (10%) and tendinopathies (3.3%). Other causes included Marrow edema with hip effusion, chronic anemic state, migratory osteoporosis, osteoid osteoma, bursitis, bone infarcts, osseous hemangioma, hemosiderosis, sacroiliitis, femoral-acetabular impingement, iliacus abscess, and bone marrow edema. Magnetic resonance imaging doesn't only demonstrate disorders of hip joint only; it also gives an accurate assessment of other extra-articular causes of referred hip pain as degenerative disc diseases and pelvic conditions.
Conclusion: Magnetic resonance is the best imaging modality to assess hip joint in non-traumatic cases. It has a great ability to diagnose disorders of bone, cartilage, ligaments, muscles and soft tissue. MRI can also detect joint effusion and bone marrow edema.