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Plain radiographs of the hip or pelvis can miss fractures in patients with hip pain. Researchers retrospectively evaluated the accuracy of plain films for the detection of hip and pelvis fractures in 92 emergency department patients (mean age, 71; history of trauma in 71%) with hip pain who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 24 hours.
Two radiologists reviewed all images; plain films were reviewed first, and the results were available during review of MRIs. In 13 patients with normal plain films, MRI detected 6 hip fractures and 17 pelvis fractures. In 26 patients with abnormal findings on plain films, MRI showed no fractures in 11 patients and an additional 12 fractures in 7 patients. Most fractures missed by plain films were…