Ultrasonographic assessment of posterior heel pain

To investigate the value of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of posterior h eel pain, 68 patients with normal plain x-ray findings of the posterior hee l underwent ultrasonographic examination with a 10-MHz linear array probe. The findings included Archilles tendinosis (31 patients), retrocalcaneal bu rsitis (12), superficial Achilles bursitis (7), soft tissue mass (7), Achil les tendon rupture (4), xanthoma (3), tenosynovitis of the flexor hallucis longus tendon (2), and negative findings (2). Sixteen of these patients und erwent surgery after ultrasonographic examination. The surgical diagnoses w ere consistent with the ultrasonographic diagnoses in all cases. With high- resolution ultrasonography, pathologic conditions of the posterior heel can be readily differentiated.