The value of MRI in the evaluation of the ACL deficient knee and in the post-operative evaluation after ACL reconstruction

To evaluate the usefulness of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the exploration of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) deficient-knee, a total of twenty-five patients with chronic instability of the knee joint and who underwent both MRI and arthroscopy were studied prospectively. Twenty-three of these patients underwent an intra-articular reconstruction of the ACL with bone-patellar tendon-bone autografts. For the ACL lesions MRI had a sensitivity of 95.8%, a specificity of 100% and a diagnostic accuracy of 97.7%. Associated bowing of the PCL was seen in 20 cases of the study group. For the associated meniscal lesions MRI had a sensitivity of 77.7%, a specificity of 94.7% and a diagnosti…