Incidental Finding of Deep Vein Thrombosis on Routine Knee Magnetic Resonance Imaging

A 53 year old male presented to his local doctor with an acute knee injury, limited knee movement and a haemoarthrosis. Patient did not have calf tenderness or clinical suspicion for deep vein thrombosis (DVT). He was referred for a routine acute knee magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. This MRI demonstrated a full thickness anterior cruciate ligament tear with additional findings, of a probable incidental DVT. The relevant MRI findings suggestive of DVT in this case included perivascular edema and expanded caliber of the involved medial gastronomical veins on the axial proton density fat suppressed sequence (Figure 1), increased intraluminal T1 signal within the involved segment of vein and susceptibility within the vein related to haemosiderin deposition/blood products on the gradient echo sequence. DVTs are rarely reported on MRI scans. Awareness of suspicious imaging findings for both radiologists and surgeons may aid in recognition of incidental DVTs and improve management.

Karoline Kant: writing–original draft (equal). Michael Facek: writing–review & editing (equal). Craig Buchan: conceptualization (equal), writing–review & editing (equal).

The authors have nothing to report.

The patient has provided consent for publication of this image.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.