MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IN PATIENTS WITH HEMODIALYSIS-RELATED ARTHROPATHY

From April 1993 to December 1993, we prospectively studied the knees o f 15 patients (mean age, 48 +/- 11 yr) receiving long-term hemodialysi s (mean duration, 9 +/- 4) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tech niques including, T1 weighted spin-echo, multiplanar gradient recalled , and postcontrast T1 with chemical shift-selective, fat-saturation pu lse sequences. Analysis of these images revealed that the three findin gs most indicative of hemodialysis-related arthropathy were intramedul lary, cortical and soft tissue lesions. Knee pain was significantly co rrelated with the presence of soft tissue lesions. Cortical lesions we re usually associated with soft tissue lesions. Inflammatory changes a djacent to soft tissue lesions were demonstrated in postcontrast studi es in all patients with soft tissue lesions. Increases in water conten t in those lesions appeared to increase the signal intensity. Our resu lts indicate that MRI is useful in demonstrating the extent of hemodia lysis-related arthropathy involvement, especially in hemodialysis pati ents suffering from knee pain.