This study demonstrates that intradiscal steroid injections do not improve the clinical outcome in patients with discogenic back pain compared with placebo.

When patients with metallic prosthetic implants undergo an MR procedure, the interaction between the RF field and the prosthetic device may lead to an increase in specific absorption rate (SAR) in tissues surrounding the prosthesis. In this work, the distribution of SAR 10g around bilateral CoCrMo alloy hip prostheses in situ in anatomically realistic voxel models of an adult male and female due to RF fields from a generic birdcage coil driven at 64 or 128 MHz are predicted using a timedomain finite integration technique. Results indicate that the spatial distribution and maximum values of SAR 10g are dependent on body model, frequency, and the position of the coil relative to the body. Enhancement of SAR 10g close to the extremities of a prosthesis is predicted. Values of SAR 10g close to the prostheses are compliant with recommended limits if the prostheses are located outside the coil. However, caution is required when the prostheses are within the coil since the predicted SAR 10g close to an extremity of a prosthesis exceeds recommended limits when the whole body averaged SAR is 2 W kg

The British Orthopaedic Association has endorsed a website, www.orthoconsent.com, allowing surgeons free access to a bank of pre-written consent forms. These are designed to improve the level of information received by the patient and lessen the risk of successful litigation against surgeons and Health Trusts.

No abstract