Accuracy of 3-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging for the Diagnosis of Intra-articular Knee Injuries in Children and Teenagers

Abstract

Diagnostic study--Level 2.

Diagnostic Efficacy of 3-T MRI for Knee Injuries Using Arthroscopy as a Reference Standard: A Meta-Analysis

“…After the inclusion criteria were applied, 21 articles were eligible for inclusion. Eight studies were removed due to the exclusion criteria (no full text or translation in the English language, n = 3 articles; use of non-3-T MRI, n = 3; inability to use results because of inappropriate methods, n = 1; and review article of different 3-T MRI protocols, n = 1), resulting in 13 studies included for the final review [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Table 1 shows the results of the QUADAS-2 tool for the 13 studies: Seven studies scored 11 points or 100% [33,[36][37][38][39][40]42], four studies scored 10 points or 91% [32,35,43,44], and two studies scored 9 points or 82% [34,41].…”

“…2). The Schub et al [44] study was the only exception. In that study, bias with regard to the index test was unclear ( Fig.…”

“…One study [44] was deemed as having level 2b evidence because it was more of an exploratory study. A summary of the studies, including the publication details, levels of evidence, and QUADAS-2 scores, is shown in Table 1.…”

“…The three excluded studies did not report their data in suitable detail that would permit pooling, as stated in the Materials and Methods section [35,36,44]. Heterogeneity was calculated using χ 2 and I 2 statistics to permit pooling of study results for meta-analysis.…”

How sensitive and specific is 1.5 Tesla MRI for diagnosing injuries in patients with knee dislocation?

“…Possible explanations include the fact that the meniscal injury can occur between the MRI and the surgery as a result of the knee instability or it has also been suggested that severe soft tissue disruption can affect visualization of the meniscus [18]. In this study, a 1.5 T MRI scanner was used; however, there is some evidence that using a high-field-strength magnet 3.0 T MRI scanner may improve diagnostic accuracy in ligament and meniscal injuries [21,[23][24][25]. Due to the importance of diagnostic accuracy for surgical planning in patients with knee dislocation, evaluation of accuracy of the 3.0 T scanner may be useful.…”