MRI in assessment of sports related knee injuries

AbstractPurposeTo investigate the accuracy of MRI in assessment of sports related knee injuries.Materials and methodsFrom August 2012 to March 2013 thirty patients referred for sports related knee pain have been included in this study. Patients were subjected to a dedicated MR knee study and correlated knee arthroscopy and surgery.ResultsThe study included thirty patients complaining of sports related knee pain, only 5 patients (16.6%) were with normal MRI findings and 25 patients (83.4%) were with abnormal MRI findings. Among the 25 patients who had injuries of their knees, 15 patients (60%) had ACL injuries, 2 patients (8%) had PCL injuries, 10 patients (40%) had meniscal injuries, 8 patients (32%) had collateral ligament injuries, 5 patients (20%) had bone injuries and 2 patients (8%) had muscular injuries. Only 7 patients (28%) were represented with isolated injury and 18 patients (72%) were represented with combined injuries. In correlation with arthroscopies and surgeries, morphological analysis was true-positive in 23 (92%) patients of the 25 injured patients, and true-negative in 3 (60%) patients of the 5 normal patients. Morphological analysis revealed overall 92% sensitivity and 60% specificity. Regarding the 15 patients who had ACL injuries, 13 patients (86.6%) were true-positive and 8 patients (80%) of the 10 patients who had meniscal injuries were true-positive.ConclusionMRI represents the optimal imaging tool in the evaluation of the sports related knee injuries, which has been shown to be an accurate and non invasive method of diagnosing ligament, meniscal, cartilage and muscular knee injuries