Popliteal Artery-Related Pathologies in Athletes—A Primer for Musculoskeletal Radiologists

Abstract

Vascular complications in athletes are common and mimic musculoskeletal injuries such as muscle sprains, fractures, and cartilage abnormalities. They include traumatic vascular injuries and more subtle pathologies like entrapment syndromes, pseudoaneurysms, arterial occlusions, and venous thrombosis. Such vascular complications may be occult on imaging and can be difficult for a musculoskeletal radiologist to diagnose, resulting in a lack of timely diagnosis and potentially limb-threatening consequences. Although the final diagnosis may require multidisciplinary input from orthopaedic, sports and exercise medicine, and vascular and interventional radiology inputs, a musculoskeletal radiologist with prior knowledge of such conditions can be the first to diagnose such conditions aiding the athlete's performance. A musculoskeletal radiologist should pay due attention to anatomical courses of vascular channels and look for potential causes of vascular compression, aberrant myotendinous bands, accessory muscles, etc., before concluding a computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as normal. Doppler ultrasound, CT, or MR angiography are commonly employed techniques for primary evaluation, whereas digital subtraction angiography is generally reserved for troubleshooting as advanced dynamic imaging.

Keywords

• angiography
• athletes
• popliteal artery
• popliteal vessels
• sports injuries