Will A Cortisone Injection Affect My MRI Results. I Had

Posted on Mon, 9 Mar 2020

Question: Will a cortisone injection affect my MRI results. I had a cortisone injection into my ecu sheath and now it's subluxing. MRI showed nothing

Answered by Dr. Aashish Raghu (34 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Answer

Detailed Answer:
Hi there,

Thanks for the query...

What did the MRI show?

Steroid injection is only to reduce inflammation of the tendon sheath. It won't stop the subluxation of ECU.

ECU subluxation may require surgery if a wrist splint didn't work.

Hope I have answered your query.

I will be available to answer your follow up queries.

Regards,

Aashish Raghu

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Follow up: Dr. Aashish Raghu (31 minutes later)

MRI showed tendonitis on the more ulna aspect of the wrist. The subluxation started after the injection, never had symptoms before the infection. Can it be due to tissue atrophy and maybe the tendon looks bigger?

Follow up: Dr. Aashish Raghu (1 minute later)

Would the cortisone injection effect the reading of the MRI?

Answered by Dr. Aashish Raghu (42 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Answer

Detailed Answer:
The cortisone injection would less likely cause the subluxation. It's possible that the subluxation was there, to begin with, leading to inflammation of the ECU tendon sheath and now the inflammation has reduced after the injection leading to unmasking of the symptoms.

A wrist splint should reduce the subluxation.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Follow up: Dr. Aashish Raghu (11 minutes later)

Again, the MRI didn't show any tendon sheath or ecu tendon issues. Maybe the cortisone weakened the sheath? I've never had an injection in there before. I didn't think I needed the injection in the first place

Answered by Dr. Aashish Raghu (6 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Answer

Detailed Answer:
An injection needle is very less likely to tear up an entire ligament that holds the ECU tendon over the ulna bone.

This condition was probably pre-existing, and due to repeated trauma due to subluxation there developed inflammation of the tendon sheath which started swelling and did not sublux as much until the swelling reduced after the injection.

Hope this is clear now.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee