MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING VERSUS ARTHROSCOPY IN EVALUATION OF ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT LESIONS

The knee joint is one of the most commonly injured joints, as an isolated injury or as a frequent component in a multiple trauma patient. Injury to the ligaments and menisci affects the stability and normal mechanics of the knee joint, resulting in an impairing unstable knee. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a useful diagnostic tool in the assessment of injuries to the knee joint, while anterior cruciate reconstruction is a common orthopedic procedure. We set to find in this paper the concordance between MRI and arthroscopic findings. We performed a retrospective analysis of 57 patients who underwent both MRI and arthroscopic intervention, in order to see the accuracy of the imagistic evaluation in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) lesions. Our findings show that MRI and arthroscopy were in complete agreement in 94.7% of the cases. We also found 2 casesthat had normal ACL on MRI, but intraoperative we found a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament. In only one case we found an intact ACL at arthroscopy although it looked ruptured on MRI. For the assessment of ligamentous and meniscal injuries, MRI is accurate and non-invasive modality. It can be used as a first line investigation, but arthroscopy remains the gold standard for definitive and accurate diagnostic for ACL and meniscal injuries.