Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36800008›Full record

ArticleKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2023

Tendon appearance at imaging may be altered, but it may not indicate pathology.

Nicola Maffulli, Katarina Nilsson Helander, Filippo Migliorini

Open access · bronzeAbstract readEditorial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
33citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
11.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

33 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 5 countries.

Nicola MaffulliDepartment of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, University of Salerno, 84081, Baronissi, SA, Italy. n.maffulli@qmul.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5327-3702
Katarina Nilsson HelanderDepartment of Orthopaedics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Filippo MiglioriniDepartment of Orthopaedic, Trauma, and Reconstructive Surgery, RWTH University Hospital, 52074, Aachen, Germany.
Orthopaedic Trauma Association · USSahlgrenska University Hospital · SEUniversity of Salerno · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Both in tendon repair following a tear and in tendinopathy, recovery from pain and restoration of (acceptable) function does not go hand in hand with the appearance of the affected tendon at imaging. The tendon may remain altered for a long while and possibly forever, indicating a possible dissociation between morphology and symptoms. The predictive value of asymptomatic abnormal findings remains limited, and interventions in such instances are inappropriate and not supported by current evidence. Once an initial imaging investigation has depicted the condition of the tendon, additional imaging investigations are unlikely to provide further information or change prognosis in patients in whom abnormalities compatible with a diagnosis of tendinopathy have been identified by either ultrasonography or MRI. Patient education and close clinical monitoring are recommended. This is applicable to the patellar tendon, Achilles tendon, rotator cuff, for both tendon repair and tendinopathy. Given the modest risk of sonographic abnormalities to develop in symptomatic tendinopathy, planning and trying to implement any form of intervention may not be warranted. The current evidence mostly arises from low-quality studies, with heterogeneous risk factors and populations, and caution must be maintained when interpreting the significance of such incidental findings in athletes.

Indexed as

Achilles TendonPatellar LigamentTendinopathyHumansRotator CuffUltrasonographyFunctionTendinopathyTendon

Identifiers

PMID36800008
OpenAlexW4321163660

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.