OBJECTIVE To observe the imaging features for chronic whiplash alar ligament injury in elderly patients and to provide an effective diagnostic method for long-term neck pain and headaches due to alar ligament injury in elderly patients. METHODS A total of 134 elderly patients, who engaged in the work or activities related to whiplash motion and suffered from chronic neck pain, were enrolled for the study. All patients were performed comprehensive health examination (CT, MR, ultrasound and laboratory examination) and high resolution PDWI. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the results of comprehensive health examination: a clear etiology group(CE group, n=96) and an unknown etiology group(UE group, n=38). Th e characteristics of PDWI signal in the ligament were analyzed between the 2 groups. RESULTS Th e anatomy and signal characteristics of the alar ligament were clearly displayed by high resolution PDWI. Th e alar ligaments were effectively displayed by oblique coronal image. In the CE group, 7 patients (7/96) showed the positive sign of ligament injured, while 21 (21/38) patients showed positive sign of ligament injured in the UE group (P<0.01). Chronic whiplash ligament injury was proved to be the reason for long-term neck pain and headaches in 15.7% patients. CONCLUSION Th e whiplash injury of alar ligament is an important reason for chronic neck pain in elderly patients. High resolution PDWI is an effective method to evaluate the image features of alar ligament and can provide an accurate diagnosis for chronic neck pain and headaches caused by the alar ligament whiplash injury.

中文翻译：

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MR检查在评估老年患者慢性鞭打性韧带损伤中的作用。

目的观察老年患者慢性鞭打性韧带韧带损伤的影像学特征，为老年人长期韧带损伤引起的颈部长期疼痛和头痛提供有效的诊断方法。方法共有134名从事与鞭打运动有关的工作或活动并患有慢性颈痛的老年患者入选本研究。所有患者均进行了全面的健康检查（CT，MR，超声和实验室检查）和高分辨率PDWI。根据综合健康检查的结果将患者分为两组：病因明确组（CE组，n = 96）和病因不明组（UE组，n = 38）。在两组之间分析了韧带中PDWI信号的特征。结果高分辨率PDWI清晰显示了韧带的解剖结构和信号特征。通过倾斜的冠状位图像可以有效显示翼状韧带。在CE组中，UE组有7例（7/96）韧带损伤呈阳性，而在UE组中有21例（21/38）韧带损伤呈阳性（P <0.01）。事实证明，慢性鞭打韧带损伤是15.7％患者长期颈部疼痛和头痛的原因。结论颈椎韧带鞭打损伤是老年患者慢性颈痛的重要原因。高分辨率PDWI是评估韧带图像特征的有效方法，可以为由韧带鞭打损伤引起的慢性颈部疼痛和头痛提供准确的诊断。