The value of MRI STIR signal intensity on return to play prognosis and reinjury risk estimation in athletes with acute hamstring injuries

Previous studies have shown low to moderate evidence for a variety of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features as prognostic factors in athletes with hamstring injuries. Short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) signal intensity has not yet been investigated for assessing the prognosis of acute muscle in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of science and medicine in sport 2021-09, Vol.24 (9), p.855-861
Main Authors: van der Horst, R.A., Tol, J.L., Weir, A., den Harder, J.M., Moen, M.H., Maas, M., Reurink, G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Athletes
Edema
Hamstring muscles
Injury
Magnetic resonance imaging
Medical prognosis
MRI
Patients
Recovery (Medical)
Rehabilitation
Reinjury
Return to play
Sports and exercise medicine
Sports injuries
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Previous studies have shown low to moderate evidence for a variety of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features as prognostic factors in athletes with hamstring injuries. Short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) signal intensity has not yet been investigated for assessing the prognosis of acute muscle injuries. Our aim was to explore the relationship between MRI STIR signal intensity and time to return to play (RTP) and to investigate the association between MRI STIR and reinjury risk in athletes with acute hamstring injuries. Case-control study. We used MRI STIR to measure intramuscular signal intensity in patients with clinically diagnosed hamstring injuries at two time points: at injury and RTP. At injury, we calculated the association of MRI STIR signal intensity with the time to RTP and reinjury risk. At RTP, the association of MRI STIR signal intensity and reinjury risk and the change in MRI STIR signal intensity over time on reinjury risk was evaluated. 51 patients were included. We found increased MRI STIR signal intensity: (1) at time of injury not to be associated with time to RTP, (2) at time of injury to be associated with a slightly lower risk for reinjury: odds 0.986 (0.975–0.998, p=0.02) and (3) at RTP not to be associated with reinjury risk. (4) We found no association between the change in MRI STIR signal intensity over time and reinjury risk. Increased MRI STIR signal intensity at injury has no value in time to RTP prognosis, but is associated with a reduced reinjury risk.
ISSN:1440-2440
1878-1861
DOI:10.1016/j.jsams.2021.02.008