Fat-suppressed volume isotropic turbo spin echo acquisition (VISTA)MR imaging in evaluating radial and root tears of the meniscus:Focusing on reader-defined axial reconstruction

Objective: To assess the diagnostic value of fat-suppressed (FS) three-dimensional (3D) volume isotropicturbo spin echo acquisition (VISTA) imaging in detecting radial and root tears of the meniscus, includingthe reader-defined reformatted axial (RDA) plane.Materials and methods: Twenty-three patients with arthroscopically confirmed radial or root tears ofthe meniscus underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with 2D and FS 3D VISTA sequences. MRIswere reviewed independently by two musculoskeletal radiologists blinded to the arthroscopic findings.Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and interobserver agreement were calculated for radial and root tears.Both radiologists reported confidence scale for the presence of meniscal tears in 2D axial imaging, 3Daxial imaging, and RDA imaging, based on a five-point scale. Wilcoxon's signed rank test was used tocompare confidence scale.Results: The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of FS 3D VISTA MR imaging versus 2D MR imaging wereas follows: 96%, 96%, and 96% versus 91%, 91%, and 91%, respectively in reader 1, and 96%, 96%, and 96%versus 83%, 91%, and 87%, respectively, in reader 2. Interobserver agreement for detecting meniscal tearswas excellent ( = 1) with FS 3D VISTA. The confidence scale was significantly higher for 3D axial imagesthan 2D imaging (p = 0.03) and significantly higher in RDA images than 3D axial image in detecting radialand root tears.Conclusions: FS 3D VISTA had a better diagnostic performance in evaluating radial and root tears of themeniscus. The reader-defined reformatted axial plane obtained from FS 3D VISTA MR imaging is usefulin detecting radial and root tears of the meniscus.