Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Low-field MRI detects meniscal tears in dogs with cruciate ligament
By Böttcher, Peter et al.·Published in Veterinary surgery : VS·2010·Department of Small Animal Medicine, Germany·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Value of low-field magnetic resonance imaging in diagnosing meniscal tears in the canine stifle: a prospective study evaluating sensitivity and specificity in naturally occurring cranial cruciate ligament deficiency with arthroscopy as the gold standard.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with knee problems, suspected to have torn menisci due to cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) issues, underwent low-field magnetic resonance imaging (lfMRI) to check for tears. Out of 22 dogs that actually had meniscal tears confirmed by surgery, only 14 were detected by the lfMRI. This means that while lfMRI was good at ruling out some issues, it missed a significant number of actual tears, so pet owners should be cautious if lfMRI results come back negative. For accurate diagnosis, especially before surgery, arthroscopy remains the best option.
People also search for: dog knee pain meniscus tear · low-field MRI for dogs · CCL injury diagnosis in dogs
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of low-field magnetic resonance imaging (lfMRI) for detection of meniscal tears in the canine stifle. STUDY DESIGN: Double-blinded prospective clinical study. ANIMALS: Forty-two consecutive stifles of dogs (>or=20 kg; n=34) with clinical and radiologic signs suspicious for cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) insufficiency. METHODS: Each stifle had 7 predefined lfMRI sequences using a 0.5 T magnet with a human knee coil. After lfMRI, diagnostic arthroscopy was performed by 1 surgeon unaware of the MRI findings. After completion of the study MRI images were read by 1 investigator, unaware of the intraoperative findings. RESULTS: At arthroscopy, 22 stifles had meniscal tears requiring subtotal meniscectomy. Of these only 14 were identified by lfMRI. Overall sensitivity and specificity of lfMRI for detection of meniscal tears were 0.64 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]=0.43, 0.80) and 0.90 (95% CI=0.70, 0.97), respectively. Positive and negative predictive values were 0.88 (95% CI=0.64, 0.97) and 0.69 (95% CI=0.50, 0.83), respectively. Neither the state of dislocation of vertical longitudinal tears nor the amount of CCL rupture had an influence on lfMRI accuracy (P=1.00). CONCLUSION: lfMRI was of low diagnostic accuracy in detecting meniscal tears, when compared with arthroscopy. Especially negative lfMRI findings should be interpreted with caution. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: When using lfMRI as a noninvasive preoperative screening tool for the diagnosis of meniscal tears, a high percentage of missed meniscal tears has to be expected.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20345538/