Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging among Patients Undergoing Arthroscopy in a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

TL;DR

This study finds that MRI is highly accurate in diagnosing ACL tears in patients undergoing arthroscopy at a tertiary care center.

Contribution

It reports the prevalence of ACL tears detected by MRI in arthroscopy-confirmed cases in a specific clinical setting.

Findings

91.39% of arthroscopy-confirmed ACL tears were also diagnosed by MRI.

The mean age of patients with MRI-diagnosed ACL tears was 32.35 years.

63% of patients with MRI-diagnosed ACL tears were male.

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance Imaging is the preferred imaging modality in patients having anterior cruciate ligament tears. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of anterior cruciate ligament tears using magnetic resonance imaging among patients undergoing arthroscopy in a tertiary care centre.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology of a tertiary care centre. Data from 17 November 2017 to 17 October 2022 were collected between 26 December 2022 and 30 December 2022 from the hospital records. Ethical approval was obtained from Institutinal Review Committee of the same institute (Reference number: 233/22). All patients with a knee injury who received arthroscopy were included in the study. Magnetic resonance imaging reports, arthroscopic findings and relevant data of each case were retrieved from the medical case records of patients. Convenience sampling method was used. Point estimate and 95% Confidence Interval were calculated.

Among patients with arthroscopy confirmed anterior cruciate ligament tear, 138 (91.39%) (86.92 to 95.86, 95% Confidence Interval) had anterior cruciate ligament tear diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging. The mean age of the patients who had anterior cruciate ligament tear in the magnetic resonance imaging was 32.35±11.31 years. Out of them, 87 (63%) were males and 51 (37%) were females. The mean duration of the injury was 11.60±18.47 months.

The prevalence of anterior cruciate ligament tear using magnetic resonance imaging among patients undergoing arthroscopy in tertiary care centres was similar when compared to other similar studies when conducted in similar settings.