• Sanjit R Konda, Roy I Davidovitch, and Kenneth A Egol.
• Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, New York, NY 10003, USA.
• J Orthop Trauma. 2013 Sep 1;27(9):498-504.

ObjectiveTo report our experience with computed tomography (CT) scans to detect traumatic arthrotomies of the knee (TAK) joint based on the presence of intra-articular air.DesignRetrospective review.SettingLevel I trauma center.PatientsSixty-two consecutive patients (63 knees) underwent a CT scan of the knee in the emergency department and had a minimum of 14 days follow-up. Cohort of 37 patients (37 knees) from the original 62 patients who underwent a saline load test (SLT).InterventionCT scan and SLT.Main Outcome MeasurementsPositive traumatic arthrotomy of the knee (+TAK) was defined as operating room (OR) confirmation of an arthrotomy or no intra-articular air on CT scan (-iaCT) (and -SLT if performed) with follow-up revealing a septic knee. Periarticular wound equivalent to no traumatic arthrotomy (pw = (-TAK)) was defined as OR evaluation revealing no arthrotomy or -iaCT (and -SLT if performed) with follow-up revealing no septic knee.ResultsAll 32 knees with intra-articular air on CT scan (+iaCT) had OR confirmation of a TAK and none of these patients had a knee infection at a mean follow-up of 140.0 ± 279.6 days. None of the 31 patients with -iaCT had a knee infection at a mean follow-up of 291.0 ± 548.1 days. Based on these results, the sensitivity and specificity of the CT scan to detect +TAK and pw = (-TAK) was 100%. In a subgroup of 37 patients that received both a CT scan and the conventional SLT, the sensitivity and specificity of the CT scan was 100% compared with 92% for the SLT (P < 0.001).ConclusionCT scan performs better than the conventional SLT to detect traumatic knee arthrotomies and identify periarticular knee wounds that do not require surgical intervention and should be considered a valid diagnostic test in the appropriate clinical setting.Level Of EvidenceDiagnostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

33 keywords...

hide…