MRI Findings of Infectious Sacroiliitis in Children: Are There Age-Dependent Differences?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of various MRI findings of infectious sacroiliitis in children and with respect to age. This institutional review board-approved, HIPAA-compliant retrospective study included children with infectious sacroiliitis who underwent MRI examination between December 1, 2002, and September 30, 2018. Two radiologists blinded to the clinical outcome reviewed each MRI examination to determine the presence or absence of periarticular marrow edema, erosions, capsular bulge, extracapsular edema, and soft-tissue abscess. If available, pelvic radiographs were retrospectively reviewed by a third radiologist. Mann-Whitney , chi-square, and Fisher exact tests were used to compare MRI findings between younger and older children. The study included 40 children (19 boys and 21 girls; mean age, 8.6 ± 6.2 [SD] years). Sixteen children presented at or below 5 years of age (mean age, 1.7 ± 1.4 years) and 24 children presented at or above 8 years of age (mean age, 13.3 + 2.6 years). Periarticular marrow edema and anterior extracapsular edema were present in all children. Posterior extracapsular edema ( = 0.01) was statistically significantly more common in younger children when compared with older children. There was no significant difference in the presence of erosions ( = 0.60), capsule bulge ( = 0.63), or abscess ( = 0.34) between younger and older children. Pelvic radiographs ( = 28; obtained 1.6 days ± 1.7 from MRI) allowed the correct identification of the abnormal joint in only 50% of the studies. MRI findings of infectious sacroiliitis are common in children of all ages with posterior extracapsular edema statistically significantly more prevalent in younger children.