PATELLAR TENDON SONOGRAPHY IN 99 ASYMPTOMATIC BASKETBALLERS REVEALS HYPOECHOIC REGIONS

Abstract

1711 Ultrasonography (US) is commonly used to diagnose tendon disorders but recent research suggests that asymptomatic tendons can contain hypoechoic sonographic regions. We performed ultrasound examination of 99 (53F,46M) elite, currently asymptomatic basketballers' patellar tendons (PTs) to compare prevalence of hypoechoic regions with that in PTs of 27 (17F, 10M) nonathletic individuals. Controls were older, shorter & lighter than basketballers(all p<0.05). The anteroposterior PT dimensions were greater in male than female basketballers (p<0.01). Of 106 female and 92 male basketballers' tendons 19 (18%) & 39 (42%) respectivelycontained hypoechoic regions. Female and male controls each had 1 tendon with a hypoechoic region (3%, 5%). By chi-square analysis, sonographic hypoechoic regions were more common in PTs of basketballers than controls (29% v 4%) (p<0.001) and more common in the PTs of male than of female basketballers (42% v 18%) (p<0.001). Both male and female basketballers with a history of jumper's knee (patellar tendinosis) had a greater prevalence of hypoechoic regions than their never-symptomatic counterparts (M, p<0.001; F, p<0.025), but even the never-symptomatic players had hypoechoic regions in their patellar tendons (17% of never-symptomatic male and 14% of never-symptomatic female tendons). Thus, the presence of a hypoechoic region on patellar tendon US should not be considered an absolute indication for surgery.