title: Accuracy of a New Stress Radiographic Device in Diagnosing Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anterior cruciate ligament (A CL) tears are clinically diagnosed by detection of anterior tibial translation on physical examination; however, this manual method of assessment is imprecise, subjective, and not reproducible. Recently a new instrument, a stress radiographic device (SRD), was produced to objectively measure these displacements.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess a new instrument, a SRD, in the measurement of anterior tibial translation in ACL-deficient knee compared to the healthy ACL knee.
  
  
  METHODS
  The SRD was applied to 24 ACL-tear knees that were diagnosed by MRI as having complete ACL tears,.and 24 healthy ACLs from the contralateral knee of each patient. Each knee was tested under a force 120 Newtons in a posterior to anterior direction to create anterior tibial translation at 20 degrees knee flexion. Side-to-side difference of anterior tibial translation (mm) was measured from radiographs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We studied 24 patients who had one knee with complete rupture of ACL diagnosed by MRI and the other with healthy ACL confirmed by clinical diagnosis. The mean anterior tibial translation before and after using the device was significantly lower in the healthy ACL group than in the ruptured ACL group. A stress radiographic device was used with a 4 mm side-to-side cut off point of difference of anterior tibial translation between pre- and post-stress displacement for diagnosis of complete rupture of anterior cruciate ligament. The sensitivity was 79% and specificity was 100%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The new stress radiographic device is reliable and reproducible in diagnosis of complete rupture of anterior cruciate ligament.
authors.forename: Pinij
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Srisuwanporn
authors.forename: Sittichai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wachiratarapadorn
authors.forename: Roongroj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Panyasakulwong
authors.forename: Banchong
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thuntong
authors.forename: Sukorm
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cheecharern
authors.forename: Weera
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Precha
mesh_terms: D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; D006801:Humans; D007718:Knee Injuries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011857:Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity