[Examination of the knee joint. The value of clinical findings in arthroscopic control].

Purely clinical examination of the knee joint can, at best, only be regarded as a "screening procedure". Diagnosis with the aid of apparatus (sonography, arthrography, CT, NMR) produces better results. However, arthroscopy performed by an experienced examiner confirms the diagnosis in cases of suspected meniscus injury or isolated lesions of the cruciate ligaments and leads to early and therefore optimal therapy. In a retrospective study 300 arthroscopies performed in 1985 were selected and evaluated. In 1986/87, a further 300 patients were clinically examined prospectively, according to the same criteria, and findings were compared with the arthroscopy performed the following day. Clinically, in 287 patients with multiple diagnoses, internal meniscus lesions were diagnosed in 162 cases (54%), external meniscus lesions in 38 (13%), chondropathia patellae in 54 (18%), and old ruptures of the cruciate ligaments in 46 (15%). In 13 patients no diagnosis could be established. Arthroscopically, pathology of the internal meniscus was found in 98 (33%) of the 300 patients, of the external meniscus in 40 (13%), cartilage damage in 103 (34%), old cruciate ligament ruptures in 51 (17%), and recent anterior cruciate ligament ruptures in 156 (52%); in 40 cases findings were normal. At 78%, the highest positive predictive value (proportion of tentative clinical diagnoses confirmed by arthroscopy) was found in cases of old ruptures of the anterior cruciate ligament, followed by external meniscus lesions (61%) and internal meniscus lesions (55%); i.e., only 55 out of 100 clinically suspected internal meniscus lesions are diagnosed by arthroscopy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)