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Imaging of Knee Injuries

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Atlas of Emergency Imaging from Head-to-Toe

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Abstract

The knee is one of the most injured joints in the human body, accounting for an estimated 1.3 million visits to the emergency department annually in the United States and approximately 6% of all acute injuries in a prospective European study. Radiographs have low yield for the diagnosis of clinically relevant fractures and are often negative despite significant internal derangement of the knee. Computed tomography (CT) allows for a fast and accurate examination of patients for whom there is a high clinical suspicion of a radiographically occult fracture and to determine the intra-articular extent of the injury for presurgical planning. CT angiography is indicated in cases of supracondylar fracture or knee dislocation, even if spontaneously reduced, as there is a higher incidence of popliteal artery injury. Soft tissue injuries and internal derangements of the knee are best evaluated on MRI given its high soft tissue spatial resolution.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Diagnostic & Interventional Imaging, McGovern Medical School at UT Health, Houston, TX, USA

    Pritish Bawa & Vaeman Chintamaneni

Authors
  1. Pritish Bawa
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  2. Vaeman Chintamaneni
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pritish Bawa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, McMaster University, Hamilton General Hospital, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Michael N Patlas

  2. Department of Radiology, NYU Winthrop Hospital, Mineola, NY, USA

    Douglas S. Katz

  3. Department of Radiology, Pineta Grande Hospital, Castel Volturno, Italy

    Mariano Scaglione

Section Editor information

  1. University of Texas at Houston, Houston, USA

    Manickam Kumaravel MD

  2. UTHealth- McGovern School of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA

    Nicholas Beckmann MD

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Bawa, P., Chintamaneni, V. (2021). Imaging of Knee Injuries. In: Patlas, M.N., Katz, D.S., Scaglione, M. (eds) Atlas of Emergency Imaging from Head-to-Toe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44092-3_41-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44092-3_41-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-44092-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-44092-3

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