Highlights
- •The diagnostic value of diagnostic tests for detecting meniscal tears is debated.
- •The McMurray test is more accurate than the joint line tenderness test.
- •The accuracy of the McMurray test is low to moderate.
- •The McMurray is useful in patients with highly suspected meniscal tears.
Abstract
Objective
To determine the overall diagnostic accuracy of the McMurray and joint line tenderness
(JLT) tests for the detection of meniscal lesions.
Design
Secondary analysis of a prospective observational study.
Setting
Orthopedics outpatient clinic, university hospital.
Participants
Patients (N=56) with suspected nonacute meniscal lesions who underwent knee arthroscopy.
Interventions
Not applicable.
Main Outcome Measures
Diagnostic accuracy of the McMurray and JLT tests as determined by receiver operator
characteristic analysis.
Results
The McMurray test showed higher accuracy (area under the curve [AUC], .69; SE, .079)
than the JLT test (AUC, .58; SE, .084).
Conclusions
The McMurray test, although presenting a higher diagnostic accuracy than the JLT test,
does not suffice as a standalone diagnostic procedure for chronic meniscal lesions.
The test may still be valuable to guide the diagnosis in cases with highly suspected
meniscal tears.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
AUC (area under the curve), JLT (joint line tenderness), ROC (receiver operating characteristic)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 19, 2016
Footnotes
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine
