Moderne Bildgebung von Sprunggelenk und Rückfuß

No new modalities have been introduced in multimodal musculoskeletal (MSK) imaging of the ankle in recent years, but existing imaging procedures have been optimized. Sonography is known to be the primary imaging modality for assessing tendons and ligaments in the ankle joint area, especially the Achilles tendon. As a new metric parameter, shear wave elastography has been introduced in clinical routine, primarily used in tendon characterization with regard to tendinopathies. In addition the established use of sonography in trauma imaging, research in this area is currently focusing on its use for extended quantitative diagnostics and follow-up imaging. Conventionally used tomographic imaging modalities (computed tomography [CT] and magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) has been fundamentally improved to overcome its physical limitations. MRI optimized by artificial intelligence (AI) acceleration enables a significant reduction of scanning time regarding Turbo-spin-echo sequences and thus a reduction of the examination time to 4 to 6 min per joint, while image quality remains unchanged. This leads to considerable time savings combined with more capacity in MSK imaging with MRI. The new parametric CT algorithms (DECT and photon counting CT) enable improved assessment of bone and soft tissue as well as quantitative evaluation of bone and soft tissue changes.