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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Orthopedic Surgery
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1333714
Exploring the Early Diagnostic Value of MRI for Type Ⅰ Stress Fractures: a retrospective analysis based on imaging manifestations
Provisionally accepted
Hui Lu 1
Cailin Wang 2
Leilei Wang 3* Xuefeng Gao 3 Ruquan Li 4 Xiaofeng Jin 4 Jun Tang 4 Sen Guan 4- 1 Department of Pain, Suzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Suzhou, China
- 2 Medical Research Center, The People’s Hospital of SND, Suzhou, Liaoning Province, China
- 3 Department of Radiology, Other, Suzhou, Liaoning Province, China
- 4 Department of Radiology, The 904th Hospital of the People's Liberation Army Joint Logistics Support Force, Suzhou, China
Objective: To compare the positive rate of early diagnosis and the detection rate of fracture signs in TypeⅠstress fractures using X-ray, CT, and MRI.Methods: A total of 56 patients with Type I stress fractures admitted to the 904st Hospital of the PLA Joint Logistics Support Force from January 2011 to June 2021 were included in the retrospective analysis, including 35 cases of tibial stress fractures (tibia group) and 21 cases of femoral stress fractures (femur group). The positive rate of early diagnosis and the detection rates of visible fracture lines, periosteal reaction, callus formation, surrounding soft tissue swelling, and marrow cavity signal changes were compared between X-ray, CT, and MRI.Results: 1. The positive rate of early diagnosis of MRI in the tibia and femur groups were significantly higher than those of X-ray and CT examinations, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). 2. In the tibia group, MRI had significantly higher detection rates than X-ray and CT examinations for visible fracture lines, periosteal reaction, surrounding soft tissue swelling, and marrow cavity signal changes, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the detection rate of callus formation (P>0.05). 3. In the femur group, MRI had significantly higher detection rates than X-ray and CT examinations for visible fracture lines, surrounding soft tissue swelling, and marrow cavity signal changes, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).There was no significant difference in the detection rates of periosteal reaction and callus formation (P>0.05).Based on the definitely diagnostic advantages of MRI for signs such as visible fracture line, surrounding soft tissue swelling, and marrow cavity signal changes, it shows higher accuracy and application value in the early diagnosis of typeⅠstress fractures.
Keywords: stress fractures, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, early diagnosis, MRI, Imaging manifestations
Received: 05 Nov 2023; Accepted: 28 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lu, Wang, Wang, Gao, Li, Jin, Tang and Guan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Leilei Wang, Department of Radiology, Other, Suzhou, Liaoning Province, China
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