The diagnostic accuracy of B-mode ultrasound in detecting meniscal tears: a systematic review and pooled meta-analysis

Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of meniscal tears using B-mode ultrasound and high-frequency linear probe by conducting a systematic review and pooled meta-analysis. Material and methods: The Cochrane library, Embase, and Pubmed were searched for relevant studies up to 29 July 2017. The arthroscopy was used as the reference standard. The results were estimated by pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, likelihood ratio, and the area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC). Results: Seven prospective studies met the selection criteria, comprising 321meniscal tears from 472 patients. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and area under the SROC curve were 88.80% (95% CI: 82.83-92.87), 84.66% (95% CI: 75.89-90.64), 5.79(95% CI: 3.66-9.15), 0.13 (95% CI: 0.09-0.20), and 43.74 (95% CI: 24.01-79.68), respectively. The area under the SROC curve was 93% (95% CI: 91-95). Conclusions: This meta-analysis indicates that 2-dimensional ultrasound is useful, and could be routinely used for estimating meniscal injuries in the human knee joint.