Clinics in diagnostic imaging (83). Occult tibial condylar fracture

A 39-year-old man who presented with right knee pain following trauma was found to have a radiographically-occult fracture of the lateral tibial condyle on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The intra-articular fracture was seen as a curvilinear area of hypointensity on both T1- and T2- weighted MR images, with surrounding bone bruising. The MR appearances of occult fractures and bone bruising, and the role of MR imaging in the detection of these injuries in various other regions, such as the ankle, hip, elbow and wrist, are discussed.