Validity of clinical and ultrasound examination related to arthroscopy in acute injury of the medial meniscus of the knee

INTRODUCTION Injuries of the medial meniscus of the knee are constantly present in sports, but also in common life activities. Diagnostic procedures which are available today in the diagnosis and estimation of the severity of intraarticular knee structures are numerous, but they are not available, plausible and valid at the same manner. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic validity of clinical and ultrasound examination related to arthroscopy in acute injury of the medial meniscus of the knee. METHOD This prospective study analyzed 198 hospitalized patients, treated from 2004 to 2006 at the Belgrade Institute for Orthopaedic Surgery “Banjica" and Belgrade Special Orthopedic Surgery Hospital “Decedra", who underwent arthroscopy. Before the arthroscopy, clinical and ultrasound examinations were performed. RESULTS The values of sensitivity (91.1%), specificity (80.0%), positive predictive value (83.6%) and negative predictive value (88.9%) of ultrasound examination of acute injury of the medial meniscus are proportionately lower as compared to the values of sensitivity (97.2%), specificity (90.2%), positive predictive value (86.0%) and negative predictive value (98.2%) of ultrasound examination in chronic injuries of the medial meniscus of the knee. CONCLUSION Ultrasound examination is a more useful method in the detection of lesions of the medial meniscus of the knee as related to clinical tests used in their detection in this study