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Two-year follow-up study of subchondral surface irregularities of the capitellum on ultrasonography in baseball players under the age of 10 years

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Abstract

Objective

To determine whether subchondral surface irregularities of the capitellum on ultrasonography in baseball players under the age of 10 years are indicative of early osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) of the capitellum.

Materials and methods

A total of 321 players aged 6–9 years underwent ultrasonographic examination, and the findings for the subchondral bone of the capitellum on the throwing side were graded as 0, 1a, 1b, 2, or 3. Subjects classified as grade 1a or 1b showed irregularities of the subchondral bone surface and were investigated radiographically for OCD. All players continued to throw and were re-examined by ultrasonography after 1 and 2 years.

Results

At the first examination, 11/321 (3.4%) had irregularities at the subchondral surface of the capitellum [grade 1a in 7/321 (2.2%); grade 1b in 4/321 (1.2%)]. The seven players with grade 1a showed no evidence of OCD or Panner’s disease on radiography and were reclassified as grade 0 at the 2-year follow-up. All four players with grade 1b were reclassified as grade 0 at follow-up 1 and 2 years later.

Conclusion

Subchondral bone surface irregularities of the capitellum on ultrasonography in children under the age of 10 years may not be indicative of disease, but rather represent variation of ossification during normal development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedics, Tokushima University, 3-18-15 Kuramoto, Tokushima, 770-8503, Japan

    Toshiyuki Iwame, Tetsuya Matsuura, Kenji Yokoyama & Koichi Sairyo

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tokushima Red Cross Hospital, Tokushima, Japan

    Naoto Suzue

  3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shikoku Medical Center for Children and Adults, Kagawa, Japan

    Shunsuke Tamaki

Authors
  1. Toshiyuki Iwame
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  2. Tetsuya Matsuura
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  3. Naoto Suzue
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  4. Shunsuke Tamaki
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  5. Kenji Yokoyama
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  6. Koichi Sairyo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tetsuya Matsuura.

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Funding

This study was funded in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (Grant no. 26462300).

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 committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Iwame, T., Matsuura, T., Suzue, N. et al. Two-year follow-up study of subchondral surface irregularities of the capitellum on ultrasonography in baseball players under the age of 10 years. Skeletal Radiol 46, 1499–1505 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-017-2724-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-017-2724-4

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