Pittsburgh Knee Rules

Why did you develop the Pittsburgh Knee Rules? Was there a clinical experience that inspired you to create these rules for clinicians?

Back in the early 1990's, clinical decision rule research was just beginning. I found the Ottawa Ankle Rules to be a fascinating research and as a Chief Resident in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, I thought that a knee rule would also be useful. Since this type of research was fairly new to emergency medicine, I derived our rule from retrospective data and then prospectively validated it.

What pearls, pitfalls and/or tips do you have for users of the Pittsburgh Knee Rules? Are there cases when they have been applied, interpreted, or used inappropriately?

The beauty of the Pittsburgh Knee Rule is that it is fairly simple to use. I have heard some Orthopedic surgeons do not like the rule since it does not utilize more physical exam findings. The rule simply uses age and the ability to ambulate for 4 full weight-bearing steps on a flat foot. This exam finding is different than the Ottawa Knee Rule, which just requires any weight transfer onto the foot. The inter-rater reliability of the full weight-weight bearing steps has been found to be equally high.

What recommendations do you have for health care providers once they have applied the Pittsburgh Knee Rules besides imaging, or when imaging is negative?

As in any Clinical Decision Rule, the provider must explain the rule to the patient and that it rarely misses fractures. For an Emergency Physician, it is often just easier to order an x-ray (or order it from triage) rather than taking the time to explain the rule. However, there are times, after I explain the rule and try to convince the patient they do not need an X-ray, if the patient still requests an x-ray, I still order it. In the future, as value-based care and bundled payments become more prevalent, these type of evidence-based rules will become more important.

What is your criteria to determine full weight bearing steps, as required in your algorithm?

Four full weight-bearing steps on a flat foot

David Seaberg, MD, CPE, FACEP, is a professor and dean of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Chattanooga and a practicing emergency physician. He is also Senior Vice President of the Erlanger Health System. Previously, he was the residency director and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Florida and served as president and chairman of the Board of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Dr. Seaberg has over 130 publications, book chapters and abstracts and has received numerous teaching and research awards.