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Predictive role of ankle MRI for tendon graft choice and surgical reconstruction

  • MUSCULOSKELETAL RADIOLOGY
  • Published:
La radiologia medica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Tendon transfers have become a common surgical procedure around the ankle. In this study, we sought to evaluate the existence of a correlation between specific anthropometric parameters and the size of some ankle tendons measured on MRI, in particular those mostly used as graft in ankle surgery.

Methods

We recorded gender, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) of 113 patients (57 females; mean age: 42 ± 18) who underwent ankle MRI. MRI measurements performed by a radiologist were: axial shortest diameter of Achilles (AT), posterior tibialis (PTT), flexor digitorum longus (FDLT), flexor hallucis longus (FHLT), peroneus longus (PLT), and anterior tibialis (ATT) tendons, intermalleolar distance (ID) and talus width (TW). Mann–Whitney U test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used. After applying the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, statistical significance was set at p < 0.002.

Results

The mean patient height, weight and BMI were 169 ± 9.8 cm (range: 140–193), 72.4 ± 16.4 kg (range: 44–142), and 25 ± 5.7 (range: 16–50), respectively. The mean ankle measurements were: AT = 5.3 ± 1.4 mm, PTT = 3.3 ± 0.6 mm, FDLT = 2.6 ± 0.4 mm, FHLT = 2.7 ± 0.4 mm, PLT = 2.9 ± 0.5 mm, ATT = 3±0.6 mm, ID = 62.9 ± 4.5 mm, and TW = 28.8 ± 2.5 mm. A statistical difference between male and female patients was observed regarding ID (z = −6.955, p < .001), TW (z = −6.692, p < .001), AT (z = −3.587, p < .001), PTT (z = −3.783, p < .001), and FDLT (z = −3.744, p < .001). Both PTT and FDLT showed a significant correlation with ID (p < .001) and TW (p < .001). ATT size was significantly correlated with weight, ID and TW (all with p < 0.001). PLT and AT showed a significant correlation only with ID and weight (p ≤ .001), respectively.

Conclusion

Our data might help orthopaedists in preoperative planning to identify the best graft for ankle surgical procedures including tendon transfers.

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Funding

This study did not receive any funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy

    Domenico Albano, Carmelo Messina & Luca Maria Sconfienza

  2. Sezione di Scienze Radiologiche, Dipartimento di Biomedicina, Neuroscienze e Diagnostica Avanzata, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Domenico Albano & Massimo Galia

  3. Radiologia Diagnostica e Interventistica Generale, Area Diagnostica per Immagini, Dipartimento Diagnostica per Immagini, Radioterapia Oncologica ed Ematologia, IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, Rome, Italy

    Maria Cristina Cortese

  4. Musculoskeletal Section, Diagnostic Imaging Department, Hospital Universitario de la Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota, Bogotá, Colombia

    Alejandra Duarte

  5. Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Carmelo Messina, Salvatore Gitto & Luca Maria Sconfienza

  6. Scuola di Specializzazione in Radiodiagnostica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Ilaria Vicentin & Alessandra Coppola

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  1. Domenico Albano
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Correspondence to Domenico Albano.

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This study was approved by our Institutional Review Board with a waiver for patients’ informed consent. 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.

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This study was approved by our Institutional Review Board with a waiver for patients’ informed consent.

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Albano, D., Cortese, M.C., Duarte, A. et al. Predictive role of ankle MRI for tendon graft choice and surgical reconstruction. Radiol med 125, 763–769 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-020-01177-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-020-01177-z

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