Reproducibility of MRI in the diagnosis of meniscal ramp lesions: an inter-observer study

Abstract

Background Meniscal ramp lesions have gained much prominence in recent years due to a significant increase in their diagnosis and their important biomechanical involvement in the knee. A new proposed classification of these lesions has recently been published. Purpose To evaluate the reproducibility of the new classification of meniscal ramp lesions recently published using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Material and Methods A total of 249 post-traumatic knee MRI studies were evaluated by three musculoskeletal radiologists independently. Patients with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear on MRI in addition to a recent history of trauma to the knee for <12 months were included in the study, for a total of 95. We carried out an inter-observer concordance study to analyze whether the new classification is reproducible to detect meniscal ramp lesions and to classify them into their different types. Results Among our study cohort of 95 patients, we found 47 (49.5%) ramp lesions. In the inter-observer study, we obtained a good concordance (k = 0.733) in the detection of these lesions and an excellent one (k = 0.843) when the type of lesion is described. Conclusion This study demonstrates that the new classification of meniscal ramp lesions has good reproducibility on MRI.