The European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology (ESSR) has published open-access MRI protocols for use in sports imaging.
Surgeons today expect high image quality and precision diagnosis, said musculoskeletal radiologist Dr. Ara Kassarjian in a preface to the new protocols. However, many facilities lack a dedicated musculoskeletal radiologist to ensure that protocols are adequate, leading to poorer image quality and repeat scans to obtain the appropriate anatomical coverage and spatial and contrast resolution to answer the clinical question.
Following a request by the ESSR, Kassarjian coordinated the production of guidelines for the imaging of sports injuries, gathering 10 subspecialized musculoskeletal radiologists from several European countries to ensure the quality of the project.
The guidelines are aimed at ensuring that facilities without experience in sports imaging and those with older MRI systems will be able to produce images of sufficient quality to provide an accurate diagnosis without the need to rescan patients, Kassarjian said.
The protocols can be accessed on the ESSR website.
