Evaluation of Clinical Findings in Comparison with Arthroscopy for Diagnosis of Subacute Intraarticular Knee Lesions

Abstract

Introduction & Objective: Rapidly progressing medical technology sometimes obscures the importance of physical examination. This study was designed to assess the value of clinical examination in the diagnosis of ligamentous and meniscal knee injuries in comparison with arthroscopic findings. Materials & Methods: Between 2006-2008 we conducted an observational study to assess intraarticular injuries of knee in patients with subacute knee trauma. We evaluated 30 male patients with subacute knee injuries. The mean age was 27 years. After clinical physical examinations , arthroscopic procedures were performed on the patients.Arthroscopic findings were the diagnostic reference. Results: 55% of injuries affected the right knee and 45% the left knee. The accuracy of clinical examination for tears of the medial, lateral meniscus, anterior, posterior cruciate ligaments and articular cartilage was 87%, 90%, 83%, 83% and 80%, respectively. Also the sensitivity was 91%, 83%, 87.5%, 80% and 50% respectively. The specificity for the above mentioned lesions was 84%, 92%, 78.5%, 85% and 85% ,respectively. Conclusion: We demonstrated that clinical diagnosis of meniscus tears and cruciate ligaments is more reliable but we recommend the use of MRI for doubtful, difficult and complex knee injuries.

Keywords

• arthroscopy
• clinical examination
• knee