Hip MRI With Contrast - Scared

sundermom

I have been experiencing some hip pain for the past several weeks. I had a clean PET scan in November 2012 and my tumor markers have been consistently in the 20s post treatment. I had a series of hip and lower back XRays last week which were "unremarkable", so since the pain persists my onc wants me to have an MRI with contrast. I've been googling and it looks like they inject the contrast directly into the hip joint. This terrifies me! Two questions....



1. Has anyone has this procedure? If so, can you talk me through it?



2. Has anyone experienced a hip flexor injury? Can you describe it? I really think my recent interval workouts may be the cause of an injury.



So nervous!!!

Leah_S

Sundermom, I didn't have a hip MRI, but I had a pelvic MRI so probably similar. The contrast was injected through a regular IV. I've never heard of contrast being injected directly into a joint but didn't have the MRI specifically for the hip so I can't be sure.

You'll be lying on your back. If you're claustrophobic I suggest asking for ativan or something similar. I didn't have it but I'm not claustrophobic, though I kept my eyes closed. The techs I had were very nice and made sure I was comfortable before the scan,

Best of luck with the test.

Leah

Anonymous

My lumbar MRI with contrast also had the contrast administered through an IV but, like Leah, I can't speak to how they would administer it for the hip.



Best trick to relax in the MRI for me was to bring an eye mask. I also took a Xanax but in the past, no matter how much I told myself not to open my eyes, I always peeked and immediately got nervous. The eye mask did the trick and my last few procedures were much more tolerable. Good luck!