Role of Ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Evaluation of Elbow Pain

The elbow is a complex joint designed to withstand a wide range of dynamic exertional forces. There are multiple lesions causing pain at the elbow. The location and quality of elbow pain can generally localize the injury to one of the four anatomic regions: anterior, medial, lateral, or posterior elbow. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of ultrasound and ‎magnetic resonance imaging in identifying elbow pain causes. Sixty patients (36male and 24 female) were enrolled in this study who are complaining from elbow pain and or any discomfort at elbow region. ‎Tendinous elbow lesions (flexor and extensor tendon injury) were the most detectable lesions (50/172) (29.0%), followed by ligamentous lesions (medial and lateral collateral ligament injuries) (42/172) (24.41%), bony lesions (38/172) (22.09%), muscle lesions (24/172) (13.95%) and nerve lesions come last with (20/172) (11.76%). Ultrasound is a rapid cheap modality of choice regarding screening of elbow tendionous and ligamentous injury to lesser degree bony and neural lesions, MRI should be considered to assess precisely the extent of any ‎injury in addition to the value of bone visualization & nerve evaluation. Magnetic resonance neurography is a potentially useful diagnostic tool in the evaluation of ulnar neuropathy at the elbow especially ulnar nerve.