Arthroscopy: The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related Surgery
Original ArticleThe Relationship Between the MPP Test and Arthroscopically Found Medial Patellar Plica Pathology
Section snippets
Methods
Between January 1999 and August 2004, 65 patients (66 knees) in group I with anteromedial knee pain who underwent subsequent arthroscopic procedures were examined preoperatively using the MPP test. Patients who did not respond to conservative treatments (such as supervised physiotherapy, including quadriceps-strengthening and hamstring-stretching exercise daily, activity modification, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications for 6 months) were included, and patients were excluded if they
Accuracy of MPP Test
The patients in both groups were similar with regard to age and gender.
In the 64 knees that showed a positive MPP test preoperatively, 51 knees (79.7%) had pathologic MPP entrapment, 7 knees (10.9%) had fat pad synovial fringe entrapments without pathologic MPP, and 5 knees (7.8%) had localized synovitis on the medial peripatellar region. One knee (1.6%) showed a focal cartilage defect lesion on the medial femoral condyle.
In the 108 knees that had a negative MPP test preoperatively, 6 knees
Discussion
There was close correlation between the MPP test and arthroscopically found pathologic MPP entrapment in our study. A “positive MPP test” predicted “arthroscopically found MPP entrapment” with 78.8% accuracy and “all cases with no MPP entrapment by surgical resection” showed a “negative MPP test” at follow-up.
On physical examination, symptomatic MPP can often be palpated, demonstrating a tender, band-like structure paralleling the medial border of the patellar at 30° of flexion on knee motion.
Conclusions
A MPP test may be used as an accurate and noninvasive method for the detection of arthroscopically found MPP entrapment, and arthroscopic excision of pathologic MPP shows satisfactory clinical results.
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The authors report no conflicts of interest.