The Diagnostic Value of Ultrasound in Anterosuperior Acetabular Labral Tear.

PURPOSE

To investigate diagnostic value of ultrasound in acetabular labral tears compared with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, using arthroscopic surgery as the gold standard in a relatively large sample size.

METHODS

We retrospectively evaluated patients who attended the sports medicine clinic of our department and underwent arthroscopic surgery for the diagnosis of an anterosuperior acetabular labral tear between June 2014 and April 2018. All the patients received hip joint ultrasound examination and MR imaging evaluation before arthroscopic surgery. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ultrasound and MR imaging were calculated and compared.

RESULTS

A total of 195 patients were enrolled in this study. Of these, 184 had arthroscopically confirmed anterosuperior acetabular labral tear. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value, and accuracy by ultrasound were, respectively, 68.5%, 81.8%, 98 4%, 13.4%, and 69.2%, retrospectively. For MR imaging, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, negative predictive value, and accuracy were 84.8%, 63.6%, 97.5%, 20.0%, and 83.6%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Although ultrasound had a slightly lower sensitivity for detecting anterosuperior acetabular labral tear, it had a higher specificity and PPV than MR imaging. With the advantages of being inexpensive, relatively quick, noninvasive, and having dynamic evaluation, ultrasound could be used as a feasible method to evaluate anterosuperior acetabular labral tear.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level IV, case series.