Significance of the anterior tibial translocation sign in predicting the presence of anterior cruciate ligament tears in arthroscopically-proven cases

ABSTRACT

@#Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury remains a common orthopedic case, especially in young adults with an active lifestyle. Activities of daily living and sports performance may be vastly compromised; thus, immediate diagnosis is essential. The researchers tested the diagnostic ability of the anterior tibial translocation sign (using the 5 mm cut-off) against the gold standard knee arthroscopy using cross-sectional study design. Analysis of the 23 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans showed a sensitivity of 42.9% (true positives 6 had ≥5 mm reading out of 14 positive arthroscopy fi ndings), specifi city of 77.8% (true negatives 7 had <5 mm reading out of 9 negative arthroscopy fi ndings) and positive predictive value (PPV) of 75.0% (6 out of 8 positive arthroscopy fi ndings among ≥5 mm). In the sample data, 7 mm cut-off had the optimal trade-off between sensitivity and type I error, thus being the most predictive of ACL tear.