[Achilles tendon disease in athletes. An ultrasonographic study with a 13-MHz probe]

The authors investigated the diagnostic potentials of 13-MHz small parts probes in identifying inflammatory and degenerative disorders of the Achilles tendon in 63 athletes (middle-distance runners) of both sexes, aged 16 to 32 years. The patients were divided into four groups and examined with 13-MHz sectorial probes to assess the comparative reliability of the former probe versus a 7.5-MHz linear probe. US examinations with the 13-MHz probe allowed early structure changes which had been missed with the 7.5 MHz probe to be demonstrated in 10 of 17 subjects in the control group. Patients in groups 2 and 3, with severe changes in tendon structure, had the same findings with the two probes relative to identification and framing of degenerative conditions. In 3 patients submitted to surgical follow-up (group 4), the 13-MHz probe allowed good demonstration of the repairing processes, consisting of gross hyperechoic areas and hypoechoic masses with blurred edges. In conclusion, the use of a 13-MHz probe may not be considered an alternative to that of a 7.5-MHz probe. Nevertheless, higher-frequency probes provide useful information in the early phase of structural injury, when no clinical correlations are found and US with conventional probes fails to provide adequate information.