Is Groin Hernia Associated with Pubic Edema Severity in Footballers?

Abstract

Objective: The groin area, with its complex anatomical structure, can have different athletic problems simultaneously. In this study, it was aimed to investigate whether groin hernia had a relationship with pubic bone marrow edema (BME) severity in footballers. Method: Among the athletes with painful groin from different sports, only male footballers who had pubic BME in pelvic MRI report were included in the study. The included athletes underwent a second archive scan for groin hernia (hernia symptoms, previous hernia surgery, sonography report). Then, the MRI sections of hernia-related cases were re-evaluated. For this purpose, right and left pubic BME signal intensities (SI) were quantitatively measured using "region of interest (ROI)" program module on T2 fat-suppressed images. Results: A total of 93 footballers with pubic BME were found. Eleven of them (11.8%) had a concurrent hernia, while five (5.4%) had a repaired hernia prior to study. ROI measurements of these sixteen athletes revealed that the pubic bones on the side of concurrent and repaired hernia had a significantly greater mean BME intensity than opposite pubic bones (1049 SI versus 796 SI, p