Abstract

Objective: To determine the reliability of McMurray's test in diagnosing meniscal knee issues.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the Orthopaedic Department of the Medical Teaching Institute Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from August 2022 to July 2024. It involved 150 consecutive patients who underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for knee issues. The patients were examined after 3 weeks of the injury who has already done MRI. The results of the McMurray's test were compared to MRI results for each patient. We figured out the positive and negative predictive values, as well as the test's sensitivity and specificity.
Results: Out of 150 patients, 145 (96.7%) had knee injury and rest of the patient has no history of injury. Sixty (40%) patients had pain and locking with their left knee, while 85 (56.6%) had problems with their right knee. MRI showed that 93 (62%) of the 150 patients who tested positive for McMurray's test had tears in the medial meniscus, 37 (24.67%) had tears in the lateral meniscus, and 20 (13.33%) had no tears at all. The McMurray's Test was 90.07% sensitive and 66.67% specific. The negative predictive value was 30.0%, the positive predictive value was 97.69%, the accuracy was 88.67%, the false positive rate was 33.33%, and the false negative rate was 9.93%.
Conclusion: McMurray's test exhibited moderate sensitivity and high specificity in identifying meniscal tears, indicating its clinical utility as a bedside tool for initial screening. Nevertheless, its restricted negative predictive value signifies that a negative McMurray’s test does not consistently rule out meniscal injury, underscoring the necessity for confirmatory MRI in suspected instances.

Key words: Accuracy, McMurray's test, meniscus tears, magnetic resonance imaging, sensitivity, specificity.