This site is targeted at medical and radiology professionals, contains user contributed content, and material that may be confusing to a lay audience. Use of this site implies acceptance of our Terms of Use.

Causes of abnormal lunate signal on MRI

Dr Andrew Dixon et al.

There are several important causes of abnormal lunate signal on MRI, the most frequent causes being Kienbock disease (25%), ulnar impaction syndrome (25%) and intra-osseous ganglia (20%).¹Appreciation of the pattern of bone signal change can often allow the correct diagnosis to be made.

Kienbock disease
- sclerosis (low T1 and T2) centrally and within the radial aspect of lunate
- sclerosis can be diffuse
- bone oedema (high T2, intermediate T1) may be seen in the acute phase, particularly on the radial side
- 75% of cases are associated with negative ulnar variance
ulnar impaction syndrome
- sclerosis (low T1 and T2) localized to proximal ulnar aspect of lunate
- bone oedema (high T2, intermediate T1)
- chondromalacia of distal ulnar and proximal lunate cartilage
- commonly associated with positive ulnar variance

intra-osseous ganglia
- round T2 hyperintense regions
- usually radial side of lunate or distal lunate
lunate fracture
- diffuse bone oedema (high T2, intermediate T1)
- linear fracture line (low T1 and T2)
others
- degenerative disease
- inflammatory disease