The purpose of this article is to highlight the anatomical variants, technical pitfalls, and the prevalence of abnormal conditions
in the asymptomatic population in magnetic resonance imaging of the foot and ankle. Special attention is drawn to the complex
anatomy of the deltoid ligament (the superficial tibionavicular ligament, tibiospring ligament, the tibiocalcaneal ligament,
and the deep anterior and posterior tibiotalar ligaments) and the posterior tibial tendon insertion including the magic angle
artifact and the high prevalence of asymptomatic findings such as “hypertrophied” peroneal tubercle (abnormal only when larger
than 5 mm), peroneus quartus (prevalence 17%), and cysts (vascular remnants) just inferior to the angle of Gissane.
Keywords MRI, foot and ankle - Normal anatomy, foot and ankle - Variants and pitfalls, foot and ankle
The ISS Founder’s lecture honoring Professor Juergen Freyschmidt, Division of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Zentralkrankenhaus,
Bremen, Germany, has been delivered at the 33rd Members Meeting of the ISS held in Vancouver, September 2006. This review
article is based on the 2006 Founder’s lecture.