I have an injury in my left hip/buttock, and I think it could possibly be a stress fracture or labral hip tear. I'm wondering if I should get an MRI or an MR Arthogram done. Can MRA's detect hip stress fractures?
I have an injury in my left hip/buttock, and I think it could possibly be a stress fracture or labral hip tear. I'm wondering if I should get an MRI or an MR Arthogram done. Can MRA's detect hip stress fractures?
Maybe...(drumroll) you should ask your doctor!
I would get neither done, take 2 months off running and see what happens following that.
MRI vs MR arthogram wrote:
I have an injury in my left hip/buttock, and I think it could possibly be a stress fracture or labral hip tear. I'm wondering if I should get an MRI or an MR Arthogram done. Can MRA's detect hip stress fractures?
Ideally you will get both. First an MRI, then they'll inject some dye (minimally painful) and do it again.
Yes, MRIs can show bone abnormalities including fractures, edema, etc.
I was in the same situation, and a 3T MRI detected both a labral tear and a sacral stress fracture. My doctor really advised against the MRA, as it's highly invasive and can often require you to be on crutches for a week or two afterward because of the way they have to inject the dye right into the bone. After the MRI, I took 10 weeks off from running to let the sacrum heal, and now I'm training again. I have some pain from my labral tear, but it's not awful, and the doctors and PTs are fine with my running through it for now. If pain in the area persists too much, we'll do an MRA, which will give us more info about the labral tear and help to indicate whether surgery might be an option.
So I'd suggest getting the standard MRI, but with 3T resolution, first, as that will detect a stress fracture and might catch a labral tear, too, depending on whether you have bony impingement. You only need to get the MRA if the 3T MRI is inconclusive or if you decide that your labral tear requires surgery (most don't).