The value of magnetic resonance arthrography in the evaluation of repaired menisci.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the diagnostic value of direct magnetic resonance (MR) arthrography in detection of re-torn or unhealed menisci which were previously repaired.


METHODS
Twenty-six menisci of 24 symptomatic patients who had undergone a meniscus repair surgery were included in this retrospective study. These patients had been evaluated with gadolinium-enhanced direct MR arthrography. A subsequent second-look arthroscopy was performed thereafter. The findings of MR arthrography were compared with the arthroscopic findings.


RESULTS
Sixteen recurrent meniscal lesions were detected with MR arthrography; the remaining ten repaired menisci were evaluated as healed. At second-look arthroscopy, six out of 26 repaired menisci were evaluated as completely healed. Eight of them had incomplete healing, and 12 of them were unhealed. MR arthrography had four false-negative results, but there were none false-positive results. It was arthroscopically shown that three of these four false-negative results were belonged to patients who had incomplete healing. MR arthrography had a sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of 80, 100, and 84.6 %, respectively. When incomplete lesions were left out of analysis, its sensitivity and accuracy reached to 94.8 and 94.4 %.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings of this study showed that MR arthrography was a reliable diagnostic tool in evaluating previously repaired menisci. Yet diagnosis of incomplete meniscal lesions seemed to be challenging.
Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, 35100, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey, kececiburcin@hotmail.com.
Burcin
B
Kececi
Elcil Kaya
EK
Bicer
Remide
R
Arkun
Mehmet
M
Argin
Emin
E
Taskiran
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001175:Arthrography / Q000379:methods*; D001182:Arthroscopy; D003287:Contrast Media; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D005260:Female; D005682:Gadolinium; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000601:surgery*; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D024162:Second-Look Surgery; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000070600:Tibial Meniscus Injuries; D014945:Wound Healing; D055815:Young Adult
D003287:Contrast Media; D005682:Gadolinium