Efficiency of High-Resolution MRI at Different Stages of Subchondral Insufficiency Fracture of the Knee

Abstract

The history of subchondral insufficiency fracture is closely related to a pre-existing diagnosis of spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee (SONK). Previously, it was thought that subchondral linear or lunate pathological changes on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in elderly patients with a history of osteoporosis are the result of spontaneous osteonecrosis, but in the 2000s, studies by T. Yamamoto showed that a small proportion of patients with osteonecrosis of the femoral head initially have a fracture of insufficiency that gets complicated by secondary osteonecrosis. Subsequent studies of SONK also showed that the subchondral insufficiency fracture is precisely the initial process, osteonecrosis is secondary and it is a complication of the fracture. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effectiveness of high-resolution MRI at different stages of this disease.