Background: The study was aimed to evaluate the validity of clinical, radiological and MRI examination for cartilage defects of the knee compared with arthroscopic finding.
Methods: Seven-hundred seventy-two patients who were suffering from knee pain over more than 3 months were evaluated clinical (grinding-sign) and with radiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and subsequent arthroscopy.
Results: The grinding sign had a sensitivity of 0.39. The association of a positive grinding test with high grade cartilage defects was significant (p<0.000). In 97.4% an intact chondral surface correlated with a normal radiological finding. Subchondral sclerosis, exophytes and a joint space narrowing was significantly associated with high grade cartilage defects (p<0.000). The accuracy of MRI was 59.5%. The MRI resulted in an overestimation in 36.6% and an underestimation in 3.9%. False-positive results were significant more often assessed in low-grade cartilage defects (p<0.000).
Conclusions: Clinical signs, x-ray imaging and MRI correlate with arthroscopic findings in cases of deep cartilage lesions. In intact or low-grade degenerated cartilage often results an overestimating of these findings.