Journal of Trauma and Injury

The Korean Society of Traumatology (대한외상학회)
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Natural History of Spontaneous Healing of a Traumatic Radial Tear of the Lateral Meniscus: A Case Report

외측 반월상 연골에서 발생한 외상성 완전 방사상 파열 자가 치유의 자연 경과: 증례 보고

  • Sim, Jae Ang (Department of Orthopaedics, Gachon University Gil Hospital) ;
  • Yoon, Yong-Cheol (Trauma Center, Gachon University Gil Hospital) ;
  • Lee, Sheen Woo (Department of Radiology, Gachon University Gil Hospital) ;
  • Lee, Beom Koo (Department of Orthopaedics, Gachon University Gil Hospital)
  • 심재앙 (가천대학교 길병원 정형외과학교실,) ;
  • 윤용철 (가천대학교 길병원 권역외상센터) ;
  • 이신우 (가천대학교 길병원 영상의학교실) ;
  • 이범구 (가천대학교 길병원 정형외과학교실,)
  • Received : 2014.10.04
  • Accepted : 2015.01.06
  • Published : 2015.03.31
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Abstract

Complete radial tears of the lateral meniscus are relatively rare. Once torn, the injury can be debilitating due to disruption of the circumferential fibers of the meniscus. We experienced a case of a lateral meniscus with a complete radial tear at the midbody, where the two torn ends were displaced more than 1 cm and could not be approximated during arthroscopy. Thirteen months after surgery, follow-up MRI and second-look arthroscopic findings showed that the complete radial tear has healed spontaneously. However, twenty nine months after the second-look arthroscopy, the patient complained of severe knee pain during exercise. On follow-up MRI, increased sclerosis and newly developed bone marrow edema were observed in the lateral femoral condyle, compared with previous MR images. Finally, we performed meniscal allograft transplantation due to the defective properties of the completely healed lateral meniscus.

Keywords

References

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