• Itay Ashkenazi, Akram Habibi, Sophia Jacobi, Vinay K Aggarwal, Ran Schwarzkopf, and Joshua C Rozell.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NYU Langone Orthopaedic Health, 301 East 17th Street, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2024 Sep 24.

IntroductionThe role of advanced imaging in diagnosing aseptic implant loosening following total hip arthroplasty (THA) remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in detecting aseptic loosening.MethodsThis was a retrospective review of 342 consecutive patients who underwent revision THA between July 2011 and April 2023 and had a pelvis MRI as part of the preoperative diagnostic evaluation. Among them, 62 patients had an intraoperative diagnosis of aseptic loosening of either the femoral or acetabular component. Patients were stratified based on the concordance between their MRI and radiographs findings.ResultsPreoperative MRI showed signs of aseptic loosening in 25/62 patients (sensitivity = 40.3%). Similarly, preoperative radiographs demonstrated signs of aseptic loosening in 27 patients (43.5%). Twelve patients (19.4%) had both MRI and radiographs predictive of aseptic loosening, 22 patients (35.5%) did not show signs of aseptic loosening in either MRI or radiographs, and for 28 patients (45.2%), the results were discordant. Among the patients with a negative radiograph for aseptic loosening (n = 35), 13 patients (37.1%) showed signs of aseptic loosening on MRI.ConclusionAseptic loosening remains an elusive diagnosis, and the findings of this study suggest that the utility of MRI and radiographs as part of the diagnostic process is limited. However, in cases of presumed aseptic loosening with inconclusive radiographs findings, MRI may play a role in improving the diagnostic process.Level Of EvidenceIII.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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