van Heumen M, et al. – An appraisal was pursued of the prognostic value of MRI findings at index injury and/or return to play for acute hamstring re–injuries. No strong evidence was yielded with regard to any MRI finding in speculating hamstring re–injury risk. Nonetheless, moderate evidence was illustrated by the intratendinous injuries and biceps femoris injuries in terms of the relationship with a higher re–injury risk.

Methods

• Data was extracted from the PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Web of Science, LILACS, SciELO, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, SPORTDiscus and Cochrane Library, until 20 June 2016.
• The included studies were those examining MRI as a prognostic tool for determining the risk of re-injury for athletes with acute hamstring injuries.
• 2 authors independently screened the search results and gauged the risk of bias via standardised criteria from a consensus statement.
• A best-evidence synthesis determined the level of evidence.
• Post hoc analysis included correction for insufficient sample size.

Results

• Among the 11 studies included, 7 exhibited a low and 4 had a high risk of bias.
• There was no strong evidence for any MRI finding as a risk factor for hamstring re-injury.
• Moderate evidence was yielded with regard to the existence of a link between intratendinous injuries with increased re-injury risk.
• Post hoc analysis demonstrated moderate evidence that injury to the biceps femoris was a moderate to strong risk factor for re-injury.