Hip pain is a common clinical problem with a long list of possible etiologies. Imaging plays a pivotal role in evaluation of hip pain. Plain radiographs of the hip joint and pelvis are the first line of imaging but have limitation in assessment of soft tissues and intra articular structures. As of today, MRI is the modality of choice for evaluation of hip pain. It provides excellent soft tissue resolution, multiplanar imaging and is without the risk of ionizing radiation. MR imaging offers several advantages that are especially important in the pediatric population. Because much of the pediatric hip is cartilaginous, it is often not optimally imaged with other modalities such as plain radiography, ultrasound (US) (after 6 months of age),and computed tomography (CT).

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

• To estimate the role of MRI in early evaluation of painful hip joints with subtle plain radiographic findings.

• To assess the severity and extent of the underlying lesion in various conditions of painful hip.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Source of data: All patients with clinical history of hip pain referred  to department of Radiodiagnosis, Alluri Sitarama Raju academy of medical sciences and general hospital Eluru , Andhra Pradesh.

Duration: 2 years from October 2016 to October 2018.

Study design: Cross sectional study

Study population: 50 cases

Method: All the patients with acute or chronic hip pain were subjected to radiograph of pelvis with hip joint  AP View and if required frog leg lateral view of pelvis are taken followed by MRI.However we excluded patients with recent history of trauma.

ScanningTechnique:  MR Imaging will be done with 1.5 Tesla Siemens Magnetom Avanto Machine using abdominal surface coils and spine coils . The following sequences will be selected as required. TIW coronal,  T1W axial ,T2W coronal, T2W axial, STIR coronal, STIR axial, PD sagittal ,axial GRE.