Comparison of visibility of ulnar sided triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) ligaments between isotropic three-dimensional and two-dimensional high-resolution FSE MR images.

OBJECTIVES:Assessment of the ulnar attachment of the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) in a neutral forearm position remains challenging. Our study aims to evaluate the visibility of ulnar sided TFCC on 3 T MRI and compare isotropic 3D FSE sequences utilizing multiplanar reformation (MPR) with standard high-resolution 2D FSE sequences. METHODS:Ninety-nine MRI wrist studies in patients with wrist pain were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were scanned with a neutral forearm position and reviewed with isotropic 3D coronal FSE proton density-weighted images (PDWI) and 2D coronal FSE PDWI. MPR was used for 3D assessment. Visibility of the dorsal radioulnar ligament (DRUL), triangular ligament (TL), and volar radioulnar ligament (VRUL) was assessed by three raters utilizing a five-point grading scale. Grades were compared between 2D and 3D sequences. Intrarater and interrater reliability for the delineation of anatomic structures was measured by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Cohen's kappa, and percentage of exact agreement/agreement within a range of ±1 score point. RESULTS:Visibility grades in 3D were statistically significantly higher than those in 2D in all ligaments by all raters (p < 0.01). In Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and Cohen's kappa analysis, interrater correlations and agreements are variable but tended to be higher on 3D than on 2D. Both 2D and 3D sequences showed high intrarater exact agreement in all ligaments (80-91 % on 2D and 88-95 % on 3D). All exact interrater agreements on 3D were acceptable for TL (83-93 %) and acceptable to close to acceptable for VRUL (72-96 %). CONCLUSION:The utilization of isotopic 3D imaging combined with MPR function significantly improves visibility of ulnar attachment of the TFCC.