Background: Any disruption of the intra-articular structures of the tri-compartmental knee joint or even extra-articular pathologies related to quadriceps mechanism and synovium can cause painful knee resulting in functional morbidity and disability. To ascertain and manage the root cause various modalities are available today. Magnetic Resonating Imaging (MRI) is an effective and non-invasive imaging modality in diagnosing and classifying the knee pathology.

Methods: The present study was a non-randomized prospective study conducted in the Department of Radiodiagnosis and Department of Orthopaedics, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagunur, Karimnagar, Telangana, India. The study was carried out for a period of three years from January 2016 to January 2019.  The study was done on patients presenting in the orthopedics outpatient department, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, with knee pain for the duration of more than 3 months and subsequent evaluation of the knee joint by using PHILIPSINGENIA 1.5 TESLA MRI Scanner. In each patient T1W, T2W, PD, STIR, GRE and PD-FAT SAT sequences are taken. A total of 100 patients with chronic knee pain i.e pain for the duration of more than 3 months, were studied.

Results: In our study, we found that meniscal tears in the young population (aged less than 40 years) and meniscal degeneration in patients above 40 years of age is the major finding.  Grade 2 medial meniscal tears were most common followed by grade 3 medial meniscal tears, followed by lateral meniscal injury. ACL tears were the next most common finding after meniscal injuries or degeneration.

Conclusion: MRI is an accurate, non-invasive and cost-effective means to evaluate a painful knee. The high degree of precision in the interpretation of MR images and imaging in various planes and positioning the knee in 15-20° of external rotation and 5-10° of flexion aided in delineating the site and the full extent of the lesions.

Keywords: Chronic Knee Pain, Menisci, Cruciate ligament, MRI.

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Dr N Srinivas Reddy

Associate Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagunur, Karimnagar, Telangana, India