Jul 2026· The Professional Medical Journal· 0 citations· 12 references
TL;DR
Its strong concordance with MRI supports its use as a first-line diagnostic tool, particularly for full-thickness tears, and remains essential in equivocal cases or when detailed pre-operative assessment is required.
Abstract
Objective: To determine Diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in diagnosis of rotator cuff injuries keeping MRI as gold standard. Study Design: Cross-sectional Validation study. Setting: Department of Radiology, DHQ Hospital, Gujranwala. Period: September, 2025 to February, 2026. Methods: A total of 184 patients aged 18–60 years presenting with clinical suspicion of rotator cuff injury were enrolled through consecutive non-probability sampling. All patients underwent US examination using a high-frequency (7–12 MHz) linear probe followed by MRI on a 1.5 Tesla scanner. Ultrasonographic findings for full-thickness tear, partial-thickness tear, and tendinopathy were compared with MRI results considered as the reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and diagnostic accuracy were calculated. Results: Among 184 participants, 55% were female and the mean age was 39 years (range 18–60 years). MRI detected full-thickness tear in 32.6%, partial-thickness tear in 27.2%, and tendinopathy in 21.7% of cases, while 18.5% had normal findings. Ultrasound identified full-thickness tears in 30.4%, partial-thickness tears in 25.0%, and tendinopathy in 19.6%. When compared with MRI, ultrasonography demonstrated a sensitivity of 90.2%, specificity of 89.5%, PPV of 91.1%, NPV of 88.3%, and an overall diagnostic accuracy of 90.0%. Conclusion: Ultrasonography is a highly accurate, accessible, and cost-effective imaging modality for evaluating rotator cuff pathology. Its strong concordance with MRI supports its use as a first-line diagnostic tool, particularly for full-thickness tears. MRI remains essential in equivocal cases or when detailed pre-operative assessment is required.
Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of indirect MRI signs (PCL Angle, PCL Inclination Angle, PCL-PCA, and Anterior Drawer Sign) in diagnosing ACL tears, as confirmed by arthroscopy. Methodology: This retrospective case-control study, conducted at Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad from January to December 2023, included 100 patients divided into two groups based on arthroscopy findings: 50 with a healthy ACL (Control) and 50 with ACL deficiency (Test). MRI signs were analyzed retrospectively to calculate cut-off values, sensitivity, specificity, and AUC. Results: The study involved 100 patients (77 males, 23 females), with a mean age of 35.12 years (range 16–75). Among MRI parameters, PCL-PCA was the most sensitive (81.3%, AUC 0.821), followed by PCL angle (78.1%, AUC 0.870) and PCL inclination angle (68.8%, AUC 0.697). The Anterior Drawer Sign showed high specificity (89.19%) but lower sensitivity (57.14%) and was statistically significant (p = 0.001). Conclusion: The crux of this study is that PCL-PCA is highly sensitive in diagnosing ACL tear as an indirect and secondary parameter, followed by PCL angle, then by PCL inclination angle, and lastly by anterior drawer sign. These provided an excellent distinction between patients with and without an ACL tear.
K. Bhinder, Aroosa Kanwal, Madiha Saeed Wahla et al.· Nigerian Medical Journal· 0 citations
Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of unenhanced low-dose multi-detector computed tomography (LDMDCT) in detecting acute appendicitis, taking histopathology as the gold standard.
Study Design: Cross-sectional validation study.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Radiology, Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from May to Nov 2025.
Methodology: A total of 92 patients aged 18–40 years presenting with clinically suspected Acute Appendicitis were enrolled using non-probability consecutive sampling. All patients underwent unenhanced LDMDCT on a GE Optima 128-slice scanner with radiation dose maintained below 3 mSv. CT findings were evaluated against histopathological diagnosis of resected appendix specimens. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and overall diagnostic accuracy were calculated.
Results: The mean age was 27.4±6.8 years, and 58(63.0%) participants were male. Histopathology confirmed acute appendicitis in 51 (55.4%) patients. Unenhanced LDMDCT demonstrated sensitivity of 88.2% (95% CI: 76.1–95.6%), specificity of 87.8% (95% CI: 73.8–95.9%), PPV of 90.0%, NPV of 85.7%, and overall diagnostic accuracy of 88.0%. No statistically significant difference in diagnostic accuracy was observed across gender or age subgroups (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Unenhanced LDMDCT is a reliable and radiation-conscious imaging modality with high diagnostic accuracy for suspected acute appendicitis. Its routine adoption in emergency imaging pathways is strongly recommended to reduce unnecessary surgery and curtail radiation burden in the predominantly young population affected by this condition.
Accuracy of knee effusion diagnosis is improved with US, particularly in patients with elevated BMI or small effusions, and is useful for arthrocentesis planning, and is useful for arthrocentesis planning.
Ahmed Ibrahem, Sarah Cribby, Chris Penney et al.· Journal of Rheumatology· 0 citations
Objective: To determine diagnostic accuracy of shear wave elastography to differentiate amongst benign and malignant thyroid nodules taking histopathology of FNAC specimen as gold standard.
Study Design: Cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital, Multan Pakistan, from Aug 2024 to Jan 2025.
Methodology: In this study two hundred and eighty patients underwent ultrasonic shear wave elastography examination for assessment of the thyroid nodules, elasticity index was measured for each patient and a cutoff value of >66Kpa was taken as suspicion for malignancy. All the patients later went through fine needle aspiration biopsy and status of malignancy confirmed by pathologist (taken as gold standard).
Results: All the patients successfully underwent the study. The mean age of the patients turned out 48.9±12.97 years whereas male to female ratio was 1.28:1 and average nodule size was 1.04 cm with a range of 0.18 to 2.50 cm. The result Shear wave elastography is 78.18% sensitive, 76.52% specific and 77.68% accurate in distinguishing malignant thyroid nodules with a PPV of 82.69% and NPV of 70.97%.
Conclusion: Shear wave elastography is good non-invasive modality in diagnosing the thyroid malignancy with a reasonable percentage of sensitivity and specificity. However, the variable range of its accuracy may advocate more comprehensive studies on the subject.
The Spurling test in the current study exhibited high specificity and excellent positive predictive value for detecting nerve root compression in patients with cervical disc herniation.
Rafiullah, Shahid Ayub· Genetics and Molecular Resea...· 0 citations
OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of MRI pelvis in parametrialinvasion in patients with cervical cancer keeping histopathology as gold standard.STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional studySETTING: Department of Radiology, Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences,Hyderabad.STUDY DURATION: 23 rd April 2022 till 23 rd October 2022METHODS: Women aged 30-70 years having suspicion of cervical cancer clinicallywere included. Pregnant patients and patients with already diagnosed with other pelvicmalignancy were excluded. Diagnostic accuracy including sensitivity, specificity, positivepredictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of MRI was calculated using2 x 2 tables keeping histopathological findings as gold standard.RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 44.67 ± 11.99 years. Majority of patients werepre-menopausal. Diagnostic accuracy of MRI in diagnosing parametrial invasion incervical cancer showed sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value (PPV), negativepredicted value (NPV) and overall diagnostic accuracy as 86.44%, 62.50%, 94.44%,38.46% and 83.58% taking histopathology as gold standard.CONCLUSION: MRI has sensitivity of 86.44%, specificity of 62.50%, positive predictivevalue of 94.44%, negative predictive value of 38.46% and diagnostic accuracy of83.58% in diagnosing parametria invasion in cases of cervical cancer.KEY WORDS: Cervical cancer; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Sensitivity; Specificity;Diagnostic accuracy
Sualeha, Shafaq Aijaz, Ekta et al.· Journal of the Society of Ob...· 0 citations