MRI May Help Avoid Knee Surgery

The MRI scans were able to identify 108 of the 112 meniscal tears that were found when arthroscopy surgery was performed. There were three instances in which MRI showed a meniscal tear not seen on arthroscopy. "Because 3-Tesla MRI is accurate, we can confidently examine patients with suspected meniscal tears to determine if they need surgery immediately or if they might benefit from rehabilitation first to see if their knee injury heals, possibly avoiding surgery altogether,” stated Tom Magee, M.D., the lead author of both studies.

3-Tesla MRI can be performed in a novel way (called isotropic imaging) so that the knee can be visualized from all angles and planes and then reconstructed three-dimensionally as a "virtual arthroscopy.” This method demonstrates potential not only for identifying meniscal tears, but also anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL) damage, and chondral knee injuries as well, according to Dr. Magee. "We compared this new technique to conventional MR knee imaging, and found that both are equally accurate. The benefit to the new technique is that it can be done faster with less patient motion,” Dr. Magee said.

Furthermore, the new technology shows promise in better differentiating meniscal tears as stable or unstable. "If a tear is stable, the patient may not need surgery; an unstable tear requires surgery sooner rather than later,” he said. Dr. Magee warns that MR isotropic imaging is new and is not quite ready to replace conventional MR knee imaging. However, he is hopeful it could eventually take the place of current knee imaging techniques. Dr. Magee presented his studies in May 2005 at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in New Orleans (LA, USA).




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