Visibility of the lateral collateral ligaments in routine computed tomography of the ankle.

摘要

I have read with great interest the article of Hua et al. [2] in a recent issue. They reported the detailed cross-sectional anatomy of the lateral collateral ligaments of the ankle on computed tomography (CT) and magnet resonance imaging (MRI). They used anatomic specimen and coated the ligaments with contrast media for CT imaging. Whether the ligaments could also be seen on CT scans in vivo was not addressed, but this could be a clinical relevant issue. Here routine CT scans of the ankle were reviewed. The sample consisted of eight patients; all patients were examined for purposes other than acute trauma to the ankle (imaging of orthopaedic hardware, arthrodesis, osteomyelitis, suspected complex regional pain syndrome) and had no clinical suspicion of ankle sprain. All patients were examined using the same 16-slice scanner with identical parameters (slice thickness 0.5 mm, 50 mA s, 120 kV) and were reviewed on a standard workstation. The anterior talofibular ligament could be clearly depicted in all patients as a hyperdense ligament (Fig. 1). The posterior talofibular ligament could be depicted in five of the eight patients and the calcaneofibular ligament could be depicted completely in three of the eight patients and in part in another two patients.