This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Study: Standard MRI unreliable for noting anterolateral ligament tears in knees with ACL deficiency
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Results from this study indicated standard 1.5-tesla MRI was not reliable for the identification of anterolateral ligament tears in knees with ACL tears.
To determine whether the imaging modality could visualize the anterolateral ligament and categorize it as torn or intact, researchers performed a retrospective MRI study on 72 patients who had hamstring ACL reconstructions and had no concomitant lateral collateral ligament or posterolateral corner injuries. Preoperatively, patients underwent 1.5-tesla MRI scans with standard sequences performed within 3 weeks of injury. The MRIs were retrospectively reviewed by two musculoskeletal radiologists for visualization of the anterolateral ligament (ALL). Investigators also calculated the interobserver and intraobserver reliability and determined whether agreement among radiologists improved as the image reads progressed. This helped researchers to determine the learning effect.
Findings showed both radiologists were able to see the ALL in all of the MRIs. Radiologist 1 noted ALL tears in 26% of patients, whereas radiologist 2 noted the tear in 62% of patients. Investigators noted the kappa between radiologists regarding the ligament either being torn or intact was 0.54. Between radiologists, the agreements for torn or intact for femoral, meniscal and tibial locations were 0.14, 0.15 and 0.31, respectively.
According to researchers the intraobserver reliability for radiologist 1 was 0.04, 0.57 and 0.54, respectively, for femoral tears, meniscal tears and tibial tears. For radiologist 2, it was 0.75, 0.61 and 0.55, respectively. Investigators noted no learning effect. ‒ by Monica Jaramillo
Disclosures: Hartigan reports no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts