Comparative Accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Ultrasonography in Confirming Clinically Diagnosed Patellar Tendinopathy

BackgroundDiagnosis of patellar tendinopathy is based primarily on clinical examination; however, it is commonplace to image the patellar tendon for diagnosis confirmation, with the imaging modalities of choice being magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography (US). The comparative accuracy of these modalities has not been established.HypothesisMagnetic resonance imaging and US have good (>80%) accuracy and show substantial agreement in confirming clinically diagnosed patellar tendinopathy.Study DesignCohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2.MethodsMagnetic resonance imaging and US (gray scale [GS-US] and color Doppler [CD-US]) features of 30 participants with clinically diagnosed patellar tendinopathy and 33 activity-matched, asymptomatic participants were prospectively compared. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and the likelihood of positive and negative test results were determined for each technique.ResultsThe accuracy of MRI, GS-US, and CD-US...