Traumatic Meniscus and Cruciate Ligament Tears in Young Patients: A Comparison of 3T Versus 1.5T MRI

Abstract

Objective:To compare diagnosis value of 1.5T and 3T MRI in the detection of traumatic knee injuries in young patients by reference to arthroscopy.Materials and Methods:One hundred patients were prospectively included. All patients randomly underwent standardized knee 1.5T or 3T MRI with subsequent knee arthroscopy. Meniscus and cruciate ligaments tears were blindly assessed by two independent musculoskeletal radiologists.Results:Comparison of 1.5T and 3T MRI groups in the diagnosis of medial and lateral meniscal tears showed significantly higher sensitivity (p = 0.015) of 1.5T MRI in the diagnosis of lateral meniscal tears. Sensitivity and specificity for complete ACL tears were 100 percent [35/35] and 100 percent [23/23] at 1.5T MRI (p = < 0.0001) versus 95.5 percent [21/22] and 100 percent [16/16] at 3T MRI (p = < 0.0001).Only three complete PCL tears were observed in this study. Sensitivity and specificity for all complete CL tears were 100 percent [37/37]; 100 percent [77/77] for 1.5T MRI (p < 0.0001); and 95.7 percent [22/23] and 100 percent [59/59] for 3-T MRI (p < 0.0001). Diagnosis value of 1.5T and 3T MRI was equal for ACL and PCL complete tears.Conclusion:Diagnosis value of 1.5T was similar to 3T MRI for medial meniscal and cruciate ligament tears of the knee in symptomatic patients and higher for lateral meniscal tears.

The value of magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing meniscal tears: A retrospective cohort study

“…Other factors, such as imaging planes, sequence type, parameter settings, and coil technology took an equally important role in the diagnostic quality of MRI examinations. The prospective study of Nouri et al showed that 3.0 T MRI of the knee does not improve diagnosis accuracy compared with 1.5T MRI for detecting meniscal lesions [20].…”

Evaluation of Osteochondral Allograft Transplant Using In-Office Needle Arthroscopy

“…Studies have shown that higher field strength can improve MRI diagnostic accuracy; however, machines with higher field strength are not widely available, such machines are associated with increased costs, and higher field strength can cause increased artifacts from implanted hardware. 25 , 26 , 27 …”

Effect of Ligament Mapping from Different Magnetic Resonance Image Quality on Joint Stability in a Personalized Dynamic Model of the Human Ankle Complex

“…Some authors have compared 1.5 T versus 3.0 T MRI for the visualisation of cartilage, tendons, and ligaments of different anatomical joints, but the results were controversial. Among these studies, some [28][29][30][31] did not find considerable improvements from 1.5 T to 3.0 T. On the other hand, other investigations [32][33][34] demonstrated higher image quality and better diagnostic performance of the 3.0 T MRI. From a technical point of view, the 3.0 T MRI has higher signal strength, but introduces artefacts due to field inhomogeneities [35].…”