Increased prevalence of pelvic venous congestionsign on sacroiliac MRI in women with clinicallysuspected sacroiliitis

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence of pelvic venous congestion (PVC) sign on sacroiliac and hip MRI in women of reproductive age as a possible cause of pain mimicking sacroiliitis.METHODS: This retrospective study included 727 MRI examinations (401 sacroiliac joint MRI and 326 hip joint MRI) that were performed between January 2010 and December 2017. Images were evaluated for the presence of sacroiliitis, presence of PVC sign and presence of other incidental findings of musculoskeletal and genitourinary disorders. After removing patients with other musculoskeletal and genitourinary disorders that may cause pain (n=188), remaining 539 (322 sacroiliac and 217 hip), MRI examinations were re-analyzed for the presence of PVC sign.RESULTS: Four hundred one patients with sacroiliac MRI examination had 120 (29.9%) PVC sign and 326 patients with hip MRI examinations had 54 (16.6%) PVC sign (p