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Is there a role for sonography in the diagnosis of tears of the knee menisci?
Author(s) -
Azzoni Roberto,
Cabitza Paolo
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/jcu.10106
Subject(s) - medicine , tears , medical diagnosis , radiology , arthroscopy , meniscus , magnetic resonance imaging , false positive paradox , retrospective cohort study , surgery , incidence (geometry) , physics , machine learning , computer science , optics
Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of sonography in diagnosing tears of the knee menisci. Methods In this retrospective study, we reviewed the sonographic examinations of the knees of 321 patients diagnosed with a torn meniscus on the basis of clinical findings. Of the 321 knees imaged, 216 were also examined using MRI or CT. Arthroscopic meniscectomy was performed on 126 knees. Results MRI or CT did not confirm 48% (71 cases) of the positive sonographic diagnoses (ie, false positives) and 72% (50 cases) of the negative sonographic diagnoses (ie, false negatives). Thus, the sonographic diagnosis was correct in 95 cases (44%) and incorrect in 121 cases (56%), yielding low rates of sensitivity (60%) and specificity (21%). Among the 126 cases in which arthroscopic meniscectomy was performed, arthroscopy confirmed 100% of the MRI or CT diagnoses of meniscal tears. Conclusions Our results indicate that sonography is not accurate enough to be used as the only imaging modality for diagnosing tears of the knee menisci. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 30:472–476, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/jcu.10106