ROLE OF ULTRASOUND IMAGING IN ASSESSMENT OF GROWTH PLATE AND IT'S CLINICAL APPLICATIONS – A ONE YEAR HOSPITAL BASED OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Abstract

BACKGROUD & OBJECTIVES: The cartilaginous primary physis, or growth plate is a critical component of the immature skeleton and is present at the end of long bones in children allowing for longitudinal bone growth. Sandwiched between the metaphysis and the epiphysis, these areas are susceptible to a variety of insults that can lead to growth disturbances. The most often-described growth disturbance is premature physeal closure with bone bridge formation. Physeal fractures accounts for 21 to 30% of all long bone fractures while the isolated Physeal fractures or fractures through the growth plate is commonly graded as grade I fracture according to the Salter-Harris classification accounts for 6.0%–8.5% of all growth plate fractures. Plain radiography is currently the standard imaging choice for fractures in children but isolated physeal fractures are easily missed on radiographs making Ultrasound a potential modality in detecting such fractures. However, there are no established sonographic criteria for normative, baseline measurements for pediatric physeal plate widths, making identification and diagnosis of SH-I fractures challenging and subjective. This study mainly focuses on to determine the role of ultrasound in the assessment of normal physeal plate while determining the baseline measurements in physeal plate width in pediatric population and assessing variation in the measured widths among contralateral sides, age group, and sex in the pediatric population