Traumatic injuries: Imaging of peripheral muskuloskeletal injuries

Abstract

Since the publication of the first peripheral musculoskeletal radiograph in Roentgen's first description of X-rays in 1895, demonstrating a hand, projection radiography has remained the most important and, in many cases the only needed, imaging modality for fracture and other musculoskeletal injury diagnosis. The clinical importance of this radiographic application is illustrated by the rapid diffusion of X-ray knowledge in the first years after its discovery, as shown by the following example: One of the first known clinical applications of radiology in soft tissue imaging and searching for foreign bodies for preoperative assessment was performed 1897, not in a big city but in the village of Poschiavo in a secluded valley in Switzerland [67]. In past years, computed tomography (CT) has gained an important place in the emergency evaluation of fractures and in planning surgery of complex injuries.Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US) are important imaging modalities in the evaluation of soft tissues in addition to the clinical examination. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.