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Over the last decade, ultrasonography (US) has been demonstrated to be an excellent technique for detecting calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPP)crystal deposits in joints and periarticular tissues.1,–,8 The main difficulty in performing sensitivity and specificity studies for CPP crystal deposition disease is the definition of the gold standard for the diagnosis. The objective of our study was to define the sensitivity and specificity of US in detecting CPP crystal deposits in human menisci using polarised light microscopy as the gold standard.
In our study we enrolled all patients waiting to undergo knee replacement surgery due to severe osteoarthritis for two consecutive weeks. All patients underwent US examination of the knee on the day before surgery. Only the knee to be subjected to surgery was examined by an expert ultrasonographer. US scans were performed at the level of the medial and lateral meniscus with the knee completely extended, …
Footnotes
Competing interests None.
Patient consent Obtained.
Ethics approval The ultrasonography examinations were carried out as a standard protocol during normal clinical practice.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.