MENISCAL TEARS OF THE KNEE - ACCURACY OF DETECTION WITH FAST SPIN-ECHO MR-IMAGING AND ARTHROSCOPIC CORRELATION IN 293 PATIENTS

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging strategy that uses primarily fast spin-echo (SE) sequences for the di agnosis of meniscal tears. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The original clinica l interpretations of MR images in 293 patients who underwent imaging f or suspected internal derangement of a knee joint were correlated with results from subsequent arthroscopy. MR examination included a double -echo fast SE sequence as the only imaging in the sagittal plane. RESU LTS: The sensitivity and specificity for 143 confirmed tears of the me dial meniscus were 89% and 84%, respectively, while the values for 96 confirmed tears of the lateral meniscus were 72% and 93%. These values are within the ranges of values recently reported for imaging strateg ies relying predominantly on conventional SE sequences. CONCLUSION: Fa st SE imaging of the knee can be an alternative to conventional SE ima ging for the detection of meniscal tears.