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Department of Radiology, Western Infirmary, Dumbarton Road, Glasgow G11 6NT
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Isotope bone scintigraphy has been advocated as a second line investigation in cases of clinical scaphoid fracture. It has high sensitivity for fracture but poor specificity, with a false positive rate of 25% when compared with delayed radiographs [8, 9]. Although more selective than plain radiographs, a significant proportion of patients are still over-treated.
MRI has been shown to be an effective method of demonstrating occult skeletal fractures [10]. The MRI appearance of proven scaphoid fractures was described in the early 1990s [11]. Subsequently several small series of early MRI in cases of clinical scaphoid fracture have shown promising results [6, 1217].
We report the largest series to date of MRI in suspected scaphoid injury applied in routine clinical practice.
| Methods and materials |
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Clinical assessment and initial interpretation of the scaphoid series radiographs for the purposes of MRI referral was performed by a member of the A&E medical staff. Subsequent referral for MRI was at the discretion of the A&E doctor, but it was stated policy within the department that all cases of clinical scaphoid fracture be referred for MRI. The study period was April 1998 to May 2000.
MRI protocol
MRI scans were performed on a 0.2 T dedicated extremity scanner (Artoscan; Esaote, Genoa, Italy). Coronal scans only were obtained using the following parameters:
All MRI examinations were read by one of two Consultant Radiologists experienced in MRI. In accordance with previous studies a diagnosis of fracture was made if there was evidence of a discrete low signal line on T1 images which traversed the scaphoid from cortex to cortex with a corresponding area of high signal on the STIR image. Diffuse reduction in T1 signal with increase in T2 signal but with no linear component were diagnosed as bone bruising. The resolution of the MRI scanner was considered insufficient for reliable diagnosis of ligamentous injury, correspondingly there is no report of these.
Data collection
Referring clinicians were asked to complete a one-page questionnaire detailing the date of injury, clinical signs, radiographic findings, clinical diagnosis and treatment plan. The questionnaire accompanied the MRI request form. The MRI findings were entered by the Radiologist reading the examination, following which the clinician was asked to indicate the subsequent treatment plan. MRI and radiographic examination details were verified via the computerized patient records held on the hospital's radiology system computer and where necessary patient clinical records were examined with regard to clinical diagnosis, management and follow up.
| Results |
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Average patient age was 36.0 years (range 12.1 years to 83.8 years, standard deviation (SD) 17.8 years). There were 83 female patients (42.6%) and 112 male patients (57.4%). All patients had tenderness in the anatomical snuffbox. Mean time from injury to radiograph was 1.2 days (SD 1.9 days). All examinations were performed within 14 days of injury; 74% were performed within 72 h (Figure 1
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| Discussion |
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Diagnostic accuracy is a description of how close a given investigation is to the actual truth. There are three important statistical considerations in determining the accuracy of an investigation: sensitivity (the true negative test ratio); specificity (the true positive test ratio); and reliability (the inverse relation of interobserver variation). For an investigation to be accurate it is required to have high sensitivity and specificity and to be highly reliable.
In the investigation of clinical scaphoid fracture, plain radiographs fare badly when subjected to these statistical analyses. Tiel-van Buul [18] assessed reliability of reporting of scaphoid radiographs. Four observers of varying experience reported 134 radiographs taken at 1 day, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post trauma. In all combinations of observers at each time interval, reliability was poor with a kappa value of less than 0.4. The authors concluded that, as a kappa value in excess of 0.6 is required for an investigation to be deemed reliable, plain radiograph should not be used as the gold standard investigation of clinical scaphoid fracture.
Isotope bone scanning in clinical scaphoid fracture has been shown to be highly reliable and to have sensitivity approaching 100% however specificity is less good with two large series [8, 9] both finding a false positive rate of 25% when compared with delayed radiographs.
CT of clinical scaphoid fracture suffers from sensitivity problems. Tiel-van Buul et al [19] found that CT missed 21% of occult scaphoid fractures on an single read and 16.7% on a double read.
Statistical assessment of MRI of the wrist in clinical scaphoid fracture has been performed. Those studies that have assessed sensitivity and specificity of MRI against delayed radiographs have revealed excellent results. Gaebler [13] reported sensitivity and specificity for scaphoid fracture of 100%, Hunter [5] reported 100% sensitivity and Breitenseher [14] reported 100% specificity, 100% sensitivity for one reader and 100% specificity, 95% sensitivity for a second reader.
Reliability of MRI has also been addressed. Breitenseher [14] reported a kappa value of 0.953, Bretlau [15] reported a kappa value of 0.8 and Hunter [5] reported kappa values for each imaging sequence used of 0.87 (STIR), 0.96 (proton density weighted) and 0.96 (T1 weighted). These figures are well in excess of the 0.6 kappa value regarded as satisfactory for an investigation to be deemed valid [17].
All but one of the small published studies [15] used a 1.0 T or 1.5 T body scanner with a surface coil and three imaging sequences. We used a dedicated extremity low field MRI scanner with a two sequence imaging protocol (coronal STIR and T1 SE).
Breitenseher [20] compared the diagnostic capabilities of the Esaote 0.2 T low field dedicated extremity MRI scanner and a 1.0 T body MRI scanner (NT10, Philips, The Netherlands) in scaphoid fracture and concluded that there was no difference in fracture detection between the two systems.
Breitenseher has also analysed the sensitivity of three imaging sequences (T1 SE, STIR and T2* gradient echo (GE)) [14]. The T2* GE sequence was the least sensitive for trabecular fracture lines (47%), cortical fracture lines (14%) and bone marrow oedema changes (59%). The STIR sequence had a sensitivity of 88%, 100% and 100%, respectively, for the above abnormalities, the corresponding T1 SE sensitivities were 88%, 21% and 100%. The authors concluded that the combination of T1 SE and STIR sequences, as used in the current study, had the highest sensitivity for demonstration of fracture.
Plain film detects 7090% of scaphoid fractures [2, 4] and so remains the initial investigation of choice in suspected scaphoid trauma. Owing to its excellent diagnostic accuracy we believe that MRI should be regarded as the gold standard investigation in the cases in which the initial radiographs are normal.
In our population of patients with "clinical scaphoid fracture" MRI of wrist performed within 14 days of injury demonstrated a radiographically occult scaphoid fracture incidence of 19%. There are seven smaller published studies of MRI within 2 weeks of scaphoid injury as the first subsequent investigation following negative initial plain radiographs [5, 1217]. Ours is the first study to report on findings obtained in a working clinical setting rather than in a research setting. The findings of the other studies are detailed in Table 2
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The importance of appropriate case selection is demonstrated by the 62 referrals for MRI that were made on the basis of "clinical scaphoid tenderness", i.e. tender anatomical snuffbox, yet had only hand or wrist radiographs performed. The failure to perform dedicated scaphoid radiographs is likely to indicate that the clinician did not really suspect a scaphoid fracture when the patient was first examined and the radiographs ordered. These MRI studies yielded only 3 scaphoid fractures out of 62 studies (4.8%). Audit of the service should highlight and prevent such inappropriate studies. This has been instituted in our department.
A further advantage of MRI is the ability to detect occult fractures of bones other than the scaphoid. 37 such fractures were detected in the study group, of which 33 had not been seen on the initial radiographs and 27 had not exhibited any signs other than anatomical snuffbox tenderness.
Distal radius fracture was the most common non-scaphoid wrist fracture and was radiographically occult in 26 patients (13.3%). This is of the same order of magnitude as the cumulative figure of 11% derived from the other studies. For these patients MRI allowed the correct immobilization to be applied early after injury.
Occult fractures of bones other than the scaphoid were present almost as frequently as occult scaphoid fractures (17% vs. 19%). Whilst these occult fractures, being undisplaced, were unlikely to cause any adverse long-term sequelae had they gone untreated, they would most likely have been the source of continued pain in the wrist until properly healed. Early MRI diagnosis of such fractures permits early definitive treatment and prevents needless interval reviews searching for a non-existent scaphoid fracture as the explanation for on-going symptoms.
The greatest impact of MRI on patient management is the early exclusion of occult fracture. MRI excluded fracture in 119 cases, of which 106 were discharged immediately and the remaining 15 were discharged after the first clinical review. This represents an enormous reduction in the over-treatment inherent in using delayed plain radiographs as the second line investigation.
Our figures imply that in normal working practice MRI allows approximately three-fifths of patients with clinical scaphoid fracture to be discharged without further review. The remaining two-fifths will have occult fractures demonstrated of which only half will be scaphoid fractures. These patients will therefore receive early appropriate treatment without unnecessary interval review and re-imaging.
At the authors's institution, early wrist MRI in clinical scaphoid fracture was offered on a routine clinical basis only when a dedicated low field extremity scanner was installed. The perception prior to this was that acute scaphoid cases would swamp the capacity of the high field body scanner and do so in an unpredictable manner. In actual fact, even including the 62 cases which had not had scaphoid series radiographs performed, the numbers amounted to 255 cases in 25 months: between two and three cases per week. With a scanning time of just over 10 min, the entire investigation time would amount to less than two half hour slots per week which should not present an insurmountable obstacle to the provision of an early scanning service on a department's MRI scanner.
The economics of providing an acute wrist MRI service for clinical scaphoid fracture have recently been addressed in our department [21]. With an MRI scan cost of £50, it was estimated that a clinic visit would have to cost the hospital more than £30 for the provision of the MRI service to be of economic benefit. Early MRI scanning was shown to be of greater economic benefit than scanning after a 14-day clinical and radiological review.
In another European country with a different health care system [16] it was estimated that the cost of the MRI roughly equalled the saving in clinic attendance. Similarly, a cost analysis in the North American system has estimated that cost of MRI equates almost to the cost of a single outpatient review attendance [22].
Of probably greater economic significance to the country as a whole, but much harder to quantify, is the reduction in days required off work brought about by patients not being unnecessarily put in an immobilizing cast.
| Conclusions |
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| Acknowledgments |
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Received for publication June 25, 2002. Revision received February 20, 2003. Accepted for publication March 14, 2003.
| References |
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