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Abstract
To develop a protocol for rabbit knee joint ultrasonography (US); to grade ultrasonographically
the meniscal injuries of the anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) rabbit
model of osteoarthritis (OA); to assess with US the effectiveness of the ACLT; to
compare final US with macroscopy for the evaluation of medial and lateral meniscal
injuries depending on the age and weight when ACLT is performed.
Twenty-two skeletally mature and adolescent New Zealand white rabbits were housed
during the same period at the Institut Claude-Bourgelat, Lyon, France. Surgical ACLT
was performed in the left knee of nine adolescent and five adult rabbits. Final US
and macroscopic semi-quantitative grading of the meniscal injuries were compared 5
months after ACLT.
A standardised protocol was developed to evaluate the rabbit knee joint. US was performed
in both control and ACLT knees. Normal and abnormal meniscal US appearances were described.
A semi-quantitative scale to grade US meniscal injuries was created. Macroscopic and
US total meniscal scores were significantly positively correlated (P<0.001, r=0.70).
US detection of meniscal injuries was 92% sensitive and 87.5% specific compared to
macroscopy. Positive and negative predictive values of US were, respectively, 92%
and 87.5%. US detection of the ACLT effectiveness was 100% specific and 78.5% sensitive.
A significant relationship was found between ultrasonographic and macroscopic grading
of meniscal injuries. US was both specific and sensitive in detecting meniscal lesions.
We propose US as a non-invasive, non-expensive, in vivo imaging technique for preclinical
studies in the ACLT rabbit OA model.