Abstract
The most common subversive knee injuries seen in hospitals are anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the tool used to diagnose ACL injuries with regard to the type of ACL tear and associated pathologies. The study aimed to assess MRI accuracy in detecting ACL injuries, estimate the prevalence of ACL tears and correlate the type of ACL with gender in Taif. A retrospective study was conducted in two Taif hospitals (King AbdulAziz Specialist hospital And Alhada Armed Force in 2018). One hundred and forty patients selected as suspected cases of ACL tear were referred for MRI of the knee. Utilizing the patients' data from the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) program; all the reviewed patients underwent 1.5T MRI scanning. The analyses for the data were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). ACL injuries were detected in 115 patients out of 140 with an overall sensitivity and specificity of MRI of 95.83% and 92.59%, respectively. The prevalence of ACL tear was 85.2% for males and 14.8% for females. The most commonly affected age group was 21-40 years. The incidence of complete ACL tear was higher in men than in women (45.2 vs 1.7%, respectively), whereas partial tears occurred more frequently in females (13% vs. 40%). However, the correlation between the type of injury and gender was not significant. MRI can accurately diagnose ACL injuries. ACL tears in this study were more prevalent in males than in females.