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Investigation of site and frequency of asymptomatic injury in medial structures of the elbow in adolescent baseball players using dedicated magnetic resonance imaging

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Japanese Journal of Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Medial epicondyle (ME) and elbow joint proximal (UCL-p) and distal ulnar collateral ligament (UCL-d) asymptomatic injuries are frequently observed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, the injury rates vary among these structures in elbow screening of adolescent baseball players, despite being adjacent medial structures of the elbow. This study aimed to retrospectively determine the actual injury site and rate, and investigate the underlying reason for discrepancies anatomically and biomechanically.

Materials and methods

Forty-four male adolescent baseball players were scanned using MRI. Two interpreters independently and retrospectively assessed the ME, UCL-p, and UCL-d injuries using the gradient echo axial, sagittal, and coronal planes.

Results

The injury prevalence was significantly higher in the ME and UCL-p (> 50% of the participants) than in the UCL-d (22.7%), P < 0.01 and P < 0.01, respectively. Additionally, there was a tendency toward a high-frequency injury rate of the ME or UCL-p.

Conclusion

The injury site of the medial structures tended to be proximal. The ME and UCL-p were observed to be more frequently injured compared to the UCL-d in adolescent baseball players according to the dedicated MRI findings in this study.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express my greatest appreciation to Akito Kawasaki and Masashi Maruyama for their useful discussion and ideas regarding this work.

Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan

    Tomohiro Yoshizawa, Takeshi Makihara, Kenta Tanaka, Takeshi Ogawa & Masashi Yamazaki

  2. Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 2-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan

    Yoshikazu Okamoto

Authors
  1. Tomohiro Yoshizawa
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  2. Yoshikazu Okamoto
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  3. Takeshi Makihara
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  4. Kenta Tanaka
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  5. Takeshi Ogawa
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  6. Masashi Yamazaki
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by TY, YO, TM, and KT. The first draft of the manuscript was written by TY and YO and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yoshikazu Okamoto.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

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 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from the parents of all individual participants included in the study. Additional informed consent was obtained from all individual participants for whom identifying information is included in this article.

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Yoshizawa, T., Okamoto, Y., Makihara, T. et al. Investigation of site and frequency of asymptomatic injury in medial structures of the elbow in adolescent baseball players using dedicated magnetic resonance imaging. Jpn J Radiol 39, 261–266 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-020-01048-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-020-01048-7

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