Accuracy of Lelli Test For Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear

Abstract

Introduction: The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important stabilizer of the knee. Rupture of the ACL, unfortunately, is a common sports injury. Three most accurate test routinely applied in clinical practice to determine ACL injuries are the Anterior drawer, Lachman, and pivot shift tests test .In this study we evaluate the accuracy of Lelli test for detecting ACL tear and compare it with those tests.

Methods: This study included 80 patients attending sports clinic at Department of orthopedics, Tribhuvan University, Teaching Hospital from December 2013 to November 2014, aged between 20-45 years with knee symptoms of giving way/locking/pain following sports or non sports injury .Clinical history and detail clinical assessment of knee for instability including Anterior drawer test, Lachman test, Pivot shift test ,Lelli test were performed by standard technique and recorded in the Performa. All patient underwent knee arthroscopic evaluation and needful procedure by an experienced arthroscopic surgeon. Arthroscopy findings of ACL tear was recorded and used to assess the reliability of clinical test.

Results: In this study sensitivity of Anterior drawer test, Lachman test , Pivot shift test , Lelli test was 80.00%(CI 62.53-90.93),91.42%(CI 75.81-97.75) ,51.42%(CI 34.27-68.27), 85.71%(CI 68.95-94.61) respectively and Specificity was 93.33%(CI 80.68-98.28), 95.55%(CI 83.36-99.22), 100%(CI 90.20- 100.00) , 91.11%(CI 77.87-97.11) respectively.

Conclusion: Lelli test being simple test can be routinely used in evaluation of ACL function in both acute and chronic knee injury.