Correlation between Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Arthroscopy in Meniscal Injuries

Introduction: Meniscal injuries have a very high incidence among professional and amateur athletes. It is estimated that the incidence amounts to 24 every 100 000 each year. The different forms of imaging diagnostics play an important role in the management of knee injuries, particularly in the event of uncertain clinical diagnosis, helping to avoid unnecessary and expensive surgeries. In order to diagnose meniscal pathologies, the most commonly used imaging test is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Health Officials from all around the world are becoming increasingly involved in the definition of surgical treatment limits, making an effort to enhance their practice and the patients’ cost-effectiveness. Our work aims to review evidence about the correspondence between imaging tests -particularly the MRIand knee arthroscopy as the Gold Standard for the diagnosis of meniscal injuries. Material and Methods: We performed a systematic search that included Medline (PubMed interphase) and Lilacs databases. The search totaled 607 articles. According to filters and inclusion/exclusion criteria, 23 papers were chosen for our bibliographic review. Results: The selected papers were prospective studies. Our results are based on data retrieval specifically linked to sensitivity and specificity of the MRI with regards to arthroscopy in meniscal injuries. Discussion: From the analysis of this information we may consider that there is no consistency in results and opinions in English-published bibliography of a prospective profile. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that the prevailing results are those that prioritize the relevance of MRI in terms of sensitivity and specificity. We must currently accept that MRI is a very costly study for diagnosing meniscal injuries. There are some variations in its sensitivity and specificity, but they are minor and, therefore, do not invalidate these conclusions.