Comparison of three non-invasive quantitative measurement systems for the pivot shift test

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate three different non-invasive measuring devices for the pivot shift phenomenon with reference to direct bony movement measured by an electromagnetic device rigidly attached to the tibia and femur. Methods A lower body cadaveric specimen was prepared to create a positive pivot shift in both knees. Twelve expert knee surgeons from worldwide performed their preferred pivot shift technique three times in each knee. After watching an instructional video, the examiners used a standardized technique to perform three additional pivot shift maneuvers in each knee. An electromagnetic tracking system, rigidly attached to femur and tibia, was used to provide reference measurements during the pivot shift test. Three different devices were correlated to the reference method and evaluated in this study: (1) Electromagnetic tracking system with skin sensors; (2) Triaxial accelerometer system; (3) Simple image analysis. Results When results from both pivot shift techniques (preferred and standardized) were combined, the electromagnetic tracking system with skin sensors showed positive correlation with the reference measurement for acceleration and translation parameters (r = 0.88 and r = 0.67, respectively; both P < 0.01); The triaxial accelerometer system demonstrated good correlation with the reference measurement for acceleration (r = 0.75; P < 0.001). The image analysis system was poorly correlated to the translation of the reference measurement (r = 0.24; P < 0.01). Conclusion The electromagnetic tracking system with skin sensors provided the best correlation with the reference method. The triaxial accelerometer showed also a good correlation and the image analysis system showed a positive, but poor correlation with the reference method. More research is needed in order to validate simple and non-invasive devices for clinical application.