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Incidence of elbow injuries in adolescent baseball players: screening by a low field magnetic resonance imaging system specialized for small joints

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this preliminary study was to examine the capability of screening for elbow injuries induced by baseball using a low field small joint MRI system.

Materials and methods

Sixty-two players in the 4th–6th elementary school grades, with ages ranging from 9 to 12 years, participated in this study. Screening for elbow injuries was performed using a low-magnetic-field (0.2-T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system designed for examinations of small joints of the extremities. Gradient-echo coronal, sagittal, and short-tau inversion recovery (STIR) coronal images of the dominant arm used for pitching were obtained to identify medial collateral ligament (MCL) injuries with or without avulsion fracture and osteochondritis dissecans.

Results

All 62 examinations were performed successfully, with 26 players (41.9 %) showing positive findings, all being confined to the MCL. No child showed bone damage. All criteria in the MRI evaluation of injuries showed high agreement rates and kappa values between two radiologists.

Conclusion

Screening for early detection of elbow injuries in junior Japanese baseball players can be successfully performed using a low-field MRI system specialized for small joints. The percentage of MCL injury without avulsion fracture was unexpectedly high (41.9 %).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Medicine Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University of Tsukuba, 2-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8576, Japan

    Yoshikazu Okamoto, Takashi Hiyama & Manabu Minami

  2. Graduate Program of Comprehensive Human Science, Doctor Program in Sports Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Kiyoshi Maehara

  3. Graduate Program of Comprehensive Human Science, Doctor Program in Coaching Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Tetsuya Kanahori & Takashi Kawamura

Authors
  1. Yoshikazu Okamoto
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  2. Kiyoshi Maehara
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  3. Tetsuya Kanahori
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  4. Takashi Hiyama
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  5. Takashi Kawamura
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  6. Manabu Minami
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Correspondence to Yoshikazu Okamoto.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all study participants or their parents.

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Okamoto, Y., Maehara, K., Kanahori, T. et al. Incidence of elbow injuries in adolescent baseball players: screening by a low field magnetic resonance imaging system specialized for small joints. Jpn J Radiol 34, 300–306 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-016-0526-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-016-0526-6

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