MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING - COMPARISON WITH OTHER PROCEDURES USED SO FAR IN EXAMINATION OF THE WRIST, SUCH AS ARTHROGRAPHY AND SCINTIGRAPHY

MRI can be regarded as a standard procedure for diagnosis of the painful wrist. Because of its high costs, it must be used with discretion. For the detection of lesions of the marrow, joint effusions and soft tissue pathology (exception for ruptured ligaments), MRI is generally the most sensitive imaging modality. It shows the living part of bone and soft tissue with unique contrast. An integrative imaging approach including MRI is often successful. X-ray of the wrist is the basic investigation. Ultrasound often allows the diagnosis of pathology of ganglia, tendons and vessels. Lesions of the ligaments are shown best by arthrography, although MRI can also demonstrate these lesions. The introduction of MRI has limited the use of CT to pathologic changes in cortical and cancellous bone and displacement or malignment. Scintigraphy and MRI are mostly complementary rather than mutually exclusive.