Virtual MR arthroscopy of the wrist joint: A new intraarticular perspective

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate whether virtual MR arthroscopy could be used to visualize the internal architecture of the radiocarpal compartment of the wrist joint in comparison to surgical arthroscopy. Design: Diluted paramagnetic contrast material was injected into the radiocarpal compartment prior to MR examination in all patients. A fat-suppressed T1-weighted three-dimensional fast spoiled gradient echo sequence was acquired in addition to our standard MR imaging protocol in each patient. Three-dimensional data sets were then transferred to an independent workstation and were postprocessed using navigator software to generate surface rendered virtual MR arthroscopic images. Patients: Nineteen patients referred for chronic ulnar-sided wrist pain were evaluated with conventional MR arthrography prospectively. Results and Conclusion: Virtual MR arthroscopic images demonstrating the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) in an intraarticular perspective were achieved in 12 out of 19 patients. Our preliminary investigation suggests that although it has several limitations, virtual MR arthroscopy shows promise in visualizing the TFCC from an intraarticular perspective.