KKU knee compression-rotation test for detection of meniscal tears: a comparative study of its diagnostic accuracy with McMurray test.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to compare the sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of a new test, named "KKU Knee Compression-Rotation Test", with the most widely used examination, McMurray test. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Sixty-eight patients aged 18 to 39 years old were included in the present study. All of these patients were interviewed for their knee injury histories and examined with both KKU knee compression-rotation and McMurray tests preoperatively. For these clinical examination tests, the sensitivity, specificity, false positive, false negative and diagnostic accuracy rates were calculated and compared with the arthroscopic findings of these patients. RESULTS: The KKU knee compression-rotation test had sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy for detection of meniscal tear as 86.27, 88.23, and 86.76% respectively, which superior to McMurray test that was 70.59, 82.35, and 73.53%. In addition, the KKU knee compression-rotation test had false positive and false negative rates of 11.76 and 13.73% less than the 17.65 and 29.41% of McMurray test. The combination of these two tests had diagnostic sensitivity of 90.20% and positive result of both tests suggested torn meniscus with the probability of 97.14%. CONCLUSION: The KKU knee compression-rotation test for detection of torn meniscus had better rates of diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy than McMurray test. Therefore, the KKU knee compression-rotation test can be the first line screening examination for detection of torn meniscus. However, if the patient is tested by both the KKU knee compression-rotation and the McMurray tests, it will be a better screening test because a high sensitivity and positive result of both tests suggests a diagnosis of torn meniscus accurately.