Abstract des Autors

Purpose: Pubic pain in athletes cannot be healed without treating the etiology. The purpose of this work was to evaluate MR imaging in the etiologic diagnosis of pubic pain in athletes. Materials and methods: Twenty-two athletes with pubic pain underwent MR imaging of the pubic region. They were evaluated on a 0.5-T unit with a body coil, using T1-weighted sequences before and after intravenous injection of Gadolinium, and T2-weighted sequences, in axial and coronal planes. Results: Twelve patients showed lesions of one or both pubis bones, consisting of a high signal on T2-weighted images and a low signal on T1-weighted images with Gadolinium enhancement. In 6 of these patients, pubic symphysis cartilage Gadolinium enhancement was observed. These MR imaging abnormalities are consistent with chronic microtraumatic osteitis pubis. Five patients showed abdominal wall muscles abnormalities: rectus abdominis muscle partial tear (1 case), rectus abdominis muscle atrophy (1 case) and abdominal wall muscles tendinopathy (3 cases). Eight patients showed unilateral or bilateral adductor muscle tendinopathy. Conclusion: MR imaging allows etiologic diagnosis of pubic pain in athletes. Verf.-Referat