🔍 Key Findings
- Needle arthroscopy (NA) had 95% sensitivity and 100% specificity for diagnosing medial meniscal tears in dogs with CCLR.
- NA missed 1 medial and 1 lateral meniscal tear, both nondisplaced and stable.
- Visibility of all meniscal horns was significantly lower with NA compared to standard arthroscopy (SA) (P < .005 for all horns).
- Probing the caudal horn of the lateral meniscus was significantly more difficult with NA (P = .0017), though medial horn probing was similar.
- Mean NA procedure time was 8 ± 3 minutes, significantly shorter than SA (15 ± 9 min, P = .0041).
- No increase in lameness observed after NA, indicating minimal procedural morbidity.
- NA was performed under sedation in most dogs, though 10/26 required additional chemical restraint or short anesthesia.
- NA was most accurate for displaced vertical longitudinal tears, with all 14 correctly identified; one stable tear and a lateral tear were missed.
