Presentation
Chronic ankle pain and subluxation post-traumatic.
Patient Data
No bony fracture or articular lesion.
Torn anterior talofibular ligament with discontinuity of its fibers. No bony avulsion. Intact other collateral ligaments.
Mild tibio-talar as well as minimal subtalar joint effusion is noted.
Mild focal flexor hallucis longus tenosynovitis at the ankle level with minimal fluid in the synovial sheath. Otherwise, intact flexor, extensor as well as peroneal tendons around the ankle.
Intact tendo-Achilles.
Intact articular cartilage. No marrow signal abnormality of the examined bones.
Normal signal and girth of the examined periarticular musculature with preserved intermuscular fat planes.
Case Discussion
Torn anterior talofibular ligament with mild focal flexor hallucis longus tenosynovitis as well as mild tibio-talar as well as minimal subtalar joint effusion.
Anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) is the most common ligament to be torn in ankle sprain with inversion and plantar flexion injury and it is the weakest of the lateral collateral ligament complex. If associated bony avulsion, it is mostly at the fibular malleolus rather than the talar end of the ATFL ligament with characteristic bright rim sign.