Mri In Stress Fractures

A 48-year-old woman reported foot and ankle discomfort for 2-3 months but plain films showed no pathology. Though she had continued pain after treatment, a bone scan detected increased activity in the calcaneus. Magnetic resonance imaging then clearly revealed a through and through fracture of the calcaneal midbody that had not been detected on prior tests. The MRI allowed visualization of the fracture when plain films were negative, and proved more cost-effective than the bone scan that did not locate the fracture despite detecting increased calcaneal activity.