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Sonography: a sensitive and specific method for detecting trochlear cartilage pathologies

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Abstract

Purpose

MRI is now the modality of choice for evaluating articular cartilage. Nevertheless, it has some general drawbacks. Some patients cannot undergo MRI, and in others US scan could be the first examination and cartilage should be evaluated. Ultrasound could be a useful method for detecting trochlear cartilage low-grade lesions. In this study, our goal was to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasonography in detecting these lesions.

Methods

All patients referred to our hospital, from July 2018 to July 2019, who were arthroscopic candidates due to sport-related pathologies, underwent ultrasound scan 1 day prior to surgery. Ultrasound assessment was performed by an expert radiologist, with a 13-MHz probe, located transversely proximal to the patella in different degrees of knee flexion to assess trochlear lesion grade and thickness. Arthroscopic examination of all patients was performed by an experienced orthopedic knee surgeon (second author). Sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound were calculated.

Results

A total of 48 patients were involved in the study with a mean age of 33.2 years (SD: 9.7), between 19 and 51 years of age. Patients were 81% male (39 patients). The sensitivity of ultrasound in grading of trochlear cartilage lesion was 100%, meanwhile its specificity was 88.2% (30 cases had normal cartilage while this figure was 34 in arthroscopy).

Conclusion

Sonography is a low-cost, accessible diagnostic tool with high sensitivity and specificity for early detection of trochlear cartilage pathologies. It can play an important role as an outpatient diagnostic workup in patients with anterior knee pain.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Musculoskeletal Radiology, Department of Radiology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Leila Aghaghazvini

  2. Knee, Sport and Reconstruction Surgery, Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery Department, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Naghi Tahmasebi

  3. Knee, Sport and Reconstruction Surgery, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Arash Sharafat Vaziri

  4. Department of Radiology, Jame-jam Imaging Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Bahman Rasuli

  5. Bone and Joint Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Mohamad Tahami

  6. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Jalal Street, Tehran, Iran

    Fardis Vosoughi

  7. Department of Radiology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Gerami

Authors
  1. Leila Aghaghazvini
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  2. Mohammad Naghi Tahmasebi
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  3. Reza Gerami
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  4. Arash Sharafat Vaziri
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  5. Bahman Rasuli
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  6. Mohamad Tahami
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  7. Fardis Vosoughi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fardis Vosoughi.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the latest Helsinki Declaration in 2013 [23].

Ethical standards

This study was confirmed by the national ethical review committee. This study was performed in Tehran (Iran).

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Aghaghazvini, L., Tahmasebi, M.N., Gerami, R. et al. Sonography: a sensitive and specific method for detecting trochlear cartilage pathologies. J Ultrasound 23, 259–263 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-020-00488-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40477-020-00488-1

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