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MR imaging of the pelvis: a guide to incidental musculoskeletal findings for abdominal radiologists

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Abstract

Occasionally patients who undergo magnetic resonance imaging for presumed pelvic disease demonstrate unexpected musculoskeletal imaging findings in the imaged field. Such incidental findings can be challenging to the abdominal radiologist, who may not be familiar with their appearance or know the appropriate diagnostic considerations. Findings can include both normal and abnormal bone marrow, osseous abnormalities such as Paget’s disease, avascular necrosis, osteomyelitis, stress and insufficiency fractures, and athletic pubalgia, benign neoplasms such as enchondroma and bone island, malignant processes such as metastasis and chondrosarcoma, soft tissue processes such as abscess, nerve-related tumors, and chordoma, joint- and bursal-related processes such as sacroiliitis, iliopsoas bursitis, greater trochanteric pain syndrome, and labral tears, and iatrogenic processes such as bone graft or bone biopsy. Though not all-encompassing, this essay will help abdominal radiologists to identify and describe this variety of pelvic musculoskeletal conditions, understand key radiologic findings, and synthesize a differential diagnosis when appropriate.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge Olaf Magerkuth, MD, for his assistance in preparing this manuscript.

Disclosures

We would like to make the following disclosures for author Jon Jacobson, Consultant: BioClinica, Book Royalties: Elsevier, Grant: American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, Research Equipment: Harvest Technologies

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, University of Michigan Health System, 1500 E Medical Center Drive, TC 2910, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Kara Gaetke-Udager, Gandikota Girish, Ravi K. Kaza, Jon Jacobson, David Fessell, Yoav Morag & David Jamadar

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  1. Kara Gaetke-Udager
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  2. Gandikota Girish
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  3. Ravi K. Kaza
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  4. Jon Jacobson
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Correspondence to Gandikota Girish.

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Gaetke-Udager, K., Girish, G., Kaza, R.K. et al. MR imaging of the pelvis: a guide to incidental musculoskeletal findings for abdominal radiologists. Abdom Imaging 39, 776–796 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-014-0108-y

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