December Five Assessment Assistant
Diagnostic accuracy of the Thessaly test, standardised clinical history and other clinical examination tests (Apley’s, McMurray’s and joint line tenderness) for meniscal tears in comparison with magnetic resonance imaging diagnosis
What?
Single-centre prospective diagnostic accuracy study
Who?
Two cohorts of patients were recruited:
1: 292 patients with knee pathology
2: a control group of 75 patients with no knee pathology
Results!
Joint line tenderness was the most sensitive
Sensitivity: 0.77, Specificity: 0.26
McMurrays was the most specific:
Sensitivity: 0.58, Specificity 0.56
Apley’s test:
Sensitivity: 0.53, Specificity 0.53
Thessaly test:
Sensitivity 0.66, Specificity: 0.39
So…
Not surprising but a combination of tests is required to confidently ‘rule in’ a Meniscal tear. Simply palpating for joint line tenderness while the patient is crook lying with the knee flexed to 90 degrees can be helpful in ruling it out if combined with another test or imaging.
The team at ASP have really enjoyed collaborating with you throughout 2020 and are looking forwards to bigger and better things next year! We wish you all a Merry Christmas, a happy New Year and a pandemic free 2021!
Michael Rafla
Physiotherapist
Australian Sports Physiotherapy
Ivanhoe, Heidelberg, Coburg, Northcote, Carlton North
1300651256
0431 271 714
Blyth M, Anthony I, Francq B, Brooksbank K, Downie P, Powell A, Jones B, MacLean A, McConnachie A, Norrie J. Diagnostic accuracy of the Thessaly test, standardised clinical history and other clinical examination tests (Apley’s, McMurray’s and joint line tenderness) for meniscal tears in comparison with magnetic resonance imaging diagnosis. Health Technol Assess. 2015 Aug;19(62):1-62. doi: 10.3310/hta19620. PMID: 26243431; PMCID: PMC4780912.
