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MRI findings of prolonged post-traumatic sternal pain

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Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to characterize the different causes of prolonged sternal pain following thoracic trauma with involvement of the sternum and to define criteria for sternal nonunion diagnosis using MRI.

Design and patients

Five patients with abnormalities of the sternum were evaluated for prolonged sternal pain following thoracic trauma using MRI. MR images were evaluated by two radiologists in consensus. The patients were selected from the radiology database, which included 8 patients with post-traumatic prolonged sternal pain.

Results

Two patients (n = 2) revealed a sternal nonunion after sternal fracture. One patient had a sternal fracture with delayed union and minor displacement of the sternal halves. Abnormal signal intensity alterations adjacent to and within the manubrio-sternal joint were evident in 2 patients and considered due to trauma-related changes in the manubrio-sternal joint. The 3 patients who were not included in the study had no abnormalities of the sternum: 1 of them proved to have a well-healed sternal fracture and nonunion of a rib fracture, 1 had subtle Tietze’s syndrome, and 1 patient revealed no pathological findings on imaging.

Conclusion

Various factors may be responsible for prolonged sternal pain following thoracic trauma, and these can be viewed with MRI. In cases of sternal nonunion there was common fluid-like signal in the fracture interspace between the bony edges, and the bone marrow adjacent to the nonunion showed altered signal intensity. MRI identified sternal nonunion and other trauma-related abnormalities of the sternum following chest trauma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Diagnostic, Pediatric and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital of Berne, Inselspital, Freiburg Strasse, 3010, Berne, Switzerland

    Alexandra Grosse, Claudia Grosse & Suzanne Anderson

  2. Department of Radiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0628, USA

    Lynne Steinbach

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  1. Alexandra Grosse
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  2. Claudia Grosse
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  3. Lynne Steinbach
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  4. Suzanne Anderson
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Correspondence to Alexandra Grosse.

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Grosse, A., Grosse, C., Steinbach, L. et al. MRI findings of prolonged post-traumatic sternal pain. Skeletal Radiol 36, 423–429 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-007-0277-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-007-0277-7

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